Ministers jeered as MSPs vote on single-sex spaces

There were jeers across the Scottish Parliament chamber as Tory MSPs accused the government of failing women and girls over single-sex spaces.

Equalities minister Kaukab Stewart faced calls of "resign" from rival benches after she defended the SNP administration's record on equality issues.

She and social security secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville were accused of ignoring the issues during a fierce debate brought by the Scottish Conservatives on protecting single-sex spaces in the public sector.

It follows the public debate surrounding the Sandie Peggie tribunal, in which the nurse claims NHS Fife subjected her to bullying and harassment after she complained of a transwoman doctor in the female changing room.

Pam Gosal MSP said "hundreds of naked images of girls" had been found on a camera hidden in the toilet of a Dundee high school and said the case of rapist Adam Graham, also known as Isla Bryson, had "altered the public understanding" of the legal self-identification scheme proposed under the stalled Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

The bill, blocked by Westminster, was backed by a majority of MSPs across the parties. Parties whipped their MSPs to agree with the bill, which aimed to make it simpler and quicker for trans people to gain legal recognition of their preferred gender. Only the Conservatives opposed it.

In a motion put to parliament, Tory leader Russell Findlay said the government had "failed to give sufficient clarity to the public sector" about ensuring the availability of single-sex spaces for women and girls.

The provision is allowed under UK-wide equalities laws, which enable the exclusion of trans people where appropriate, while separate workplace legislation enshrines provision of single-sex facilities for employees.

Findlay said a lack of such provision had seen some women subjected to "horrific incidents of sexual abuse and harassment" and called on ministers to issue a directive to public bodies on the matter. 

Green MSP Maggie Chapman said Findlay's party was "deeply, tragically and bitterly wrong", calling the motion wrong "legally and practically".

Citing the US president, she said the "cruelty" of Donald Trump had "excited and emboldened the trans misogynists" elsewhere in the world and called on the Scottish Parliament to reject the motion.

The SNP's Emma Harper accused the Tories of attempting to "distract people from their record on equality for women and girls in our country", including the imposition of the so-called rape clause and two-child cap by Conservative ministers in London. 

She said single-sex spaces were "provided legally under the Equality Act" and a "complex area of law" could not produce "easy answers or actions that will fit in a soundbite".

Labour depute leader Jackie Baillie said women "should have the right to access single-sex changing rooms", and colleague Pauline McNeill said practice had "gone beyond the law" at some agencies, with self-ID used despite the veto to the GRR Bill.

Somerville and Stewart said their government was acting to tackle gender-based violence and is "committed to and fully upholds the Equality Act".

MSPs backed an amendment by Somerville which changed Findlay's motion away from its original intention, deleting the call for the urgent provision of guidance and agreement that safety, dignity and privacy had been jeopardised, and instead backing an amended text which "notes that the Scottish Government fully upholds the Equality Act 2010, and requires all public bodies to comply with the law, and welcomes the role of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission in providing codes of practice and guidance".

The vote was carried by MSPs by 61 votes to 31, with 20 abstentions.