We support Sandie Peggie and would vote against gender reforms, Scottish Labour leaders say

The leaders of Scottish Labour have said they support the nurse at the heart of a single-sex changing room row and confirmed they would not vote in favour of the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill again, "knowing what we know now".

Sandie Peggie has taken NHS Fife bosses to an employment tribunal, claiming bullying and harassment, after she was suspended following a complaint about a transgender doctor using the female changing facilities.

Dr Beth Upton, a transwoman, told managers Peggie was the aggressor after an incident in the women's staff facilities at Victoria Hospital in 2023. An employment tribunal is under way.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and deputy Jackie Baillie have now said they back the nurse.

And they have said they would not vote in favour of the GRR bill if that vote were to be held again.

Labour MSPs were whipped to support the Scottish Government legislation in 2022, with Pam Duncan-Glancy amongst those speaking in favour of the legislation.

Only two of the party's members - Carol Mochan and Claire Baker - voted against it, while two other colleagues - Michael Marra and Pauline McNeill - did not vote.

The reforms were subsequently blocked by the Conservative UK Government on the basis that they affected UK-wide equality laws, with Sarwar describing that move as "the wrong approach" at the time.

In a new interview with the Holyrood Sources podcast, Baillie said she "absolutely" supports Peggie and the party has "consistently said that we would protect single-sex spaces based on men and women, based on biological sex, and NHS Fife didn't do that". 

On his support for the GRR Bill, Sarwar said: "We took at face value the Scottish Government when they, on the record, said that nothing in the legislation would negatively interact with the Equality Act, that they would respect single-sex spaces based on biological sex."

He went on: "Knowing what we know now, we would not have supported the bill."

An employment tribunal in Dundee has heard claims by Peggie against both NHS Fife and Upton, who has in evidence spoken of being intimidated by the nurse.

In an interview with LBC on Monday, First Minister John Swinney said he would not comment on an ongoing legal process, adding: "I think the legal position is crystal clear that public organisations have an obligation to apply the principles that are involved in the organisation of single-sex spaces, where they consider those to be appropriately undertaken."

When pressed on the case for updated guidance on the matter, he said: "It’s for individual public bodies and employers to make a judgement about what the arrangement should be in any particular facility."

Sarwar said there is "a fear of overreach from government" and expressed "deep regret" that his party did not "push harder" on amendments on the bill.

Suggesting there is "an element of organisational capture" in effect, he said: "Throughout and now, and this will always be the case, we will support single sex-spaces based on biological sex, and that is spaces and services, crucially NHS services as well. 

"This isn't just about a government issuing guidance and then a health board choosing to either follow a guidance or not follow guidance or interpret a guidance, this is about following the law, the actual law, and the Equality Act is very clear. So this actually undermines the argument, which is around how do we challenge transphobia and how do we make sure we are also challenging misogyny and sexism at the same time? Because there's a failure to respect the Equality Act and there is not robust action from government."

Responding to the comments, Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: "This is desperate stuff from Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour. Women and girls, including those in their own party, repeatedly warned them that Nicola Sturgeon’s gender self-ID bill would not protect their safety or access to single-sex spaces, but they arrogantly refused to listen.

"Anas Sarwar even went as far as whipping his MSPs to allow Sturgeon to railroad through her plans, which were thankfully blocked by the previous UK Conservative government from ultimately becoming law. Those votes summed up how detached Scottish Labour were from how the public feel about this issue. 

"Labour were fully aware about how flawed the SNP’s gender reforms were at the time, but voted for them anyway. This attempt at backpedalling simply won’t wash with the public who will still question why Anas Sarwar and his MSPs were not on the right side of history when it really mattered."

Meanwhile, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said there is a "worrying link" between the new comments and Labour's position on asylum and immigration. He said: "They know that populist and far-right forces are targeting these minorities, but instead of challenging the right's hateful rhetoric they are trying to copy it. This isn't just directly harmful, it's also doomed to fail."