Swinney STILL won't say sorry for SNP's gender shambles (2025)

John Swinney was branded ‘truly pathetic’ after signalling he will never apologise to women for the SNP’s toxic gender shambles.

The First Minister insisted he had given ‘exactly the response I’m prepared to put in place’ after a series of ‘robotic’ refusals to say sorry at Holyrood.

He also refused to say if ‘trans women are women’ despite the Supreme Court ruling biological sex, not gender choice, is key under UK law.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: ‘It’s truly pathetic that John Swinney is so defiantly determined not to do the right thing and apologise to the women of Scotland.

‘This is what sickens people about politics - when politicians refuse to admit when they’ve got something so badly wrong and just say sorry.’

The landmark judgment from the UK’s highest court last week means biological males who identify as women can be excluded from women-only spaces if it is ‘proportionate’.

The SNP Government - under Nicola Sturgeon, then Humza Yousaf and finally Mr Swinney - had argued male-born trans women with the right paperwork were legally identical to biological women and so had the same rights.

The Supreme Court flatly rejected that as ‘unworkable’ and said the UK Equality Act of 2010 was based on ‘binary’ biological sex - not a preferred gender or ‘certificated sex’.

The ruling followed an epic legal challenge by campaigners For Women Scotland, who were constantly attacked online and vilified for their views.

Ms Sturgeon, who has yet to respond publicly to the ruling, was absent from First Minister Questions, where Mr Findlay demanded an apology.

‘SNP politicians, including Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, were willing to trash women’s rights while pushing their dangerous and divisive ideology,’ the Scottish Tory leader said

‘Commonsense and a basic respect for biological truth have now prevailed thanks to the incredible Scottish women who would not wheesht.

‘The SNP’s fringe obsession has cost obscene amounts of taxpayers’ money and wasted huge amounts of Government time while public services were neglected.

‘Politicians have a duty to hold up their hands and admit their mistakes, so will John Swinney finally apologise to the women of Scotland?’

Instead of an apology, the First Minister said his Government accepted the Court’s ruling.

He added: ‘I also accept that the court emphasised that that decision does not reduce trans people’s protections from discrimination.

‘I believe that the vast majority of people in Scotland want to live in a country that is respectful, compassionate and caring, and I am committed to protecting the rights of all.’

Mr Findlay replied: ‘For John Swinney, it seems that sorry really is the hardest word to say.

‘We know why: it is because he is not sorry.

‘We spent years telling the SNP to drop this nonsense. It refused to listen. It was absolutely obsessed. Now John Swinney does not want to talk about it, because mainstream Scotland has turned against him.’

He urged the First Minister to order the Scottish Prison Service ‘to ensure that male prisoners do their time in men’s prisons’.

Mr Swinney said he expected all public bodies to operate within the law, and that ministers would work with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on new guidance for them.

Slamming the ‘typically weak and evasive answer’, Mr Findlay said the First Minister had a chance to ‘be his own man and go a different way’ from Ms Sturgeon.

He added: ‘He can guarantee all public bodies will have new and lawful policies to respect women’s rights in place by summer. He can admit that trans women are not women.

‘He could hold his hands up and apologise fully and sincerely.

‘John Swinney could ditch Nicola Sturgeon’s toxic legacy once and for all.

‘Will he now take the chance to finally bring to an end the era of divisive gender politics?’

Ms Swinney cited a former Tory MSP backing trans women being regarded as women in 2018 as evidence the Tories had ‘changed their position’.

After the exchange in the chamber, Mr Swinney denied his responses were ‘robotic’, saying: ‘I don’t think that’s a particularly appropriate remark.’

Asked why he didn’t speak ‘from the heart’ and apologise to the women who ‘went through hell’ over the SNP’s gender ideology, he said his response to Mr Findlay was ‘comprehensive’.

Accused of ‘boilerplate’ responses and pressed again for an apology, he said: ‘It’s exactly the response that I’m prepared to put in place.’

Later, his official spokesman was asked if Mr Swinney meant he will never apologise. The spokesman did not deny it, adding: ‘He’s given his answer.’

Marion Calder of For Women Scotland said: ‘The women of Scotland expected no less.

‘An apology would have been appreciated but it is clearly not to be.

‘The law being upheld is of the most importance. However he has agreed to meet with us and we look forward to further discussions.’

The UK equality regulator yesterday called off a crunch meeting with SNP ministers over single-sex spaces and revised guidance to public bodies after the Court ruling.

Health Secretary Neil Gray and Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville had been due to have a video call with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Scottish Government said the EHRC had postponed the virtual meeting in order to speak first to UK ministers about the issue.