John Swinney STILL refuses to say what a 'woman' is (2025)

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John Swinney still refused say what a ‘woman’ is on Saturday despite the landmark ruling handed down by the Supreme Court.

The First Minister would not say if he believed a trans woman was a woman when asked by The Mail on Sunday at the launch of the SNP’s by-election campaign in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

Mr Swinney also could not confirm if NHS boards in Scotland or the public sector were operating within the Equality Act, as interpreted by the judgement.

On Wednesday, five justices unanimously ruled that biological sex is the decisive factor in what makes someone a man or a woman.

Yet, ahead of a Scottish Government statement on the ruling in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, the First Minister refused to say if he believed that a trans woman was a woman, saying: ‘Well, the Supreme Court judgment has come out on that. So we’ve got the answer to that.’

Asked: ‘What did the Supreme Court judgment say about that?’, he responded: ‘You don’t need me to spell that out to you.’

Pushed further on why he might be concerned about saying trans women were not women in the wake of the ruling, he said: ‘I don’t have any concern about that, I am simply saying the Supreme Court judgement has been made.’

And asked again if he believed trans women were not women, Mr Swinney said: ‘I will simply say that the Supreme Court judgement has come out.’

Probed over whether he accepted that some women would be upset to learn that he was unable to say trans women were not women, he said: ‘Yeah, of course, I understand that.’

Last night Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Tess White MSP said: ‘It is despicable that John Swinney is still refusing to respect women’s rights despite the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.

‘His reluctance to scrap the SNP’s dangerous gender policies is disgraceful and a betrayal of biological women across Scotland.

‘John Swinney now needs to drop his self-serving ideological obsession and ensure public bodies follow the law by providing single-sex spaces for women and girls.’

Mr Swinney was out campaigning in the former constituency of Christina McKelvie, the former SNP Minister for equalities, who passed away earlier this month.

However, during a visit to a children’s shop and community space, Swaddle, in the centre of Hamilton, interest in Mr Swinney’s MSP candidate Katy Louden was overshadowed by the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling.

The First Minister lamented the ‘anxiety that will be felt by the trans community in Scotland’ as a result of the SNP’s latest legal defeat, however failed to apologise to feminist campaigners who brought the case to the Supreme Court.

And, although he previously said he supports transgender employees being able to use the toilets and changing rooms they feel most comfortable with in the wake of the Sandie Peggie tribunal, Mr Swinney signalled that position might have to be clarified as a result of the judgement.

Asked if hospitals and the public sector in Scotland were operating in line with the Equality Act ruling, he said: ‘Well, that’s an issue that individual health boards have got to consider.

‘Obviously, we’ve had a definition of the approach from the Supreme Court. Public bodies have got to respond to that and it will be the subject of a statement by ministers to Parliament on Tuesday.’

Mr Swinney repeated his assertion that the Scottish Government had acted in good faith when interpreting the Equality Act previously and said its approach was ‘based on our assessment of the regulatory guidance’.

NHSJohn SwinneySNP

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