The Scottish Labour leader has admitted that his MSPs should not have supported Nicola Sturgeon’s self-ID gender laws.
Anas Sarwar has been accused of performing a “desperate” about-turn after saying that his party would not have voted for Ms Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Bill in the Scottish Parliament “knowing what we know now”.
He told the Holyrood Sources podcast that he had “deep regret” that Labour had not insisted on amendments being made to the legislation as a condition of his MSPs backing it.
The Bill would have allowed Scots to change their legal gender by simply signing a statutory declaration, dropping the requirement for a formal medical diagnosis.
After it was overwhelmingly passed at Holyrood, Rishi Sunak’s government stepped in to veto the legislation over concerns that it undermined UK-wide women’s rights, including the sanctity of safe spaces.
Source: Scottish Labour admit they should not have backed SNP trans self-ID