SNP bill for 'humiliating' Supreme Court defeat over definition of woman revealed

SNP ministers spent almost £160,000 of public money on its failed Supreme Court case over the definition of a woman.

The Scottish Government lost the case last month against For Women Scotland over the definition in Holyrood’s Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018.

Susan Smith and Marion Calder, right, co-directors of For Women Scotland with campaigners celebrate outside the Supreme Court in London after terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act were ruled to refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Picture: Lucy North/PA Wire

Judges ruled that in the UK Equality Act, on which the Scottish Government’s definition for their legislation was based, it referred to a biological woman.

The Scottish Government had won previous court battles over the issue, before defeat in a judicial review in the Supreme Court.

READ MORE: UK Supreme Court ruling on definition of woman branded 'abject humiliation for the SNP

The Scottish Conservatives have now received a response to a Freedom of Information request which indicates that the cost of fighting the judicial review was £157,816.30.

Figure is in addition to costs paid to For Women Scotland

The figure comes alongside the previously-documented £216,182.50 costs accrued by the Scottish Government from the initial legal challenge by For Women Scotland.

READ MORE: Major Scottish Pride event bans political parties over 'lack of action' following gender ruling

The Tories have claimed the final figure could yet grow, as the Scottish Government admit in their response that the “final costs in relation to the case are still being determined and are not yet available”.

The response adds: “We will publish the total cost of the case when it is fully complete.”

Speaking in Holyrood, SNP Justice Secretary Angela Constance, said: “Like all governments, the Scottish Government is necessarily involved in litigation, given the range and importance of its responsibilities.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance's remarks about building consensus on ways to improve the low conviction rate for rape are welcome (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

“Sometimes we are defenders and sometimes we are pursuers of cases. The outlays that are incurred in litigation are, like any other cost of government, subject to rules about public finance, decision making and accountability.

“Legal work is, of course, an integral part of the commitment to maintaining the rule of law at the heart of Government.”

Equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has issued draft guidance in the wake of the court case, which includes advice that transgender people should not be able to use toilets and other spaces designated to their acquired gender.

But it does not specify which spaces they should use other than their biological sex, a recommendation that has caused concern.

READ MORE: John Swinney warns businesses against transgender spaces knee-jerk response

First Minister John Swinney has insisted that public bodies should wait until the final guidance is signed off by the UK Government before making any changes. Labour ministers could choose to update legislation in the wake of the ruling, but have indicated they will accept the decision.

‘Self-ID policy is to blame’

Scottish Conservative shadow equalities minister, Tess White, has claimed that despite the gender recognition reforms never becoming law, the self-ID policy is to blame.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay and Tess White in the chamber at Holyrood. Picture date: Tuesday April 22, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Jane Barlow/PA Wire | Jane Barlow/PA Wire

She said: “It will rightly stick in the throat of taxpayers that they are picking up a huge legal tab for the SNP’s needless and humiliating court defeat.

“They dug their heels in defending the indefensible to the highest court in the land, instead of accepting that gender self-ID was a dangerous fallacy that ignored the legal rights of women and girls.

“The nationalists’ desperation to pander to gender zealots inside and outside their party was shameful and pig-headed.

“Yet, even now, John Swinney won’t apologise or issue a new directive to public sector bodies – which adopted self-ID wholesale – on their legal requirement to protect single-sex spaces. That negligence leaves the taxpayer wide open to huge compensation payouts.”