SNP ministers accused of 'trying to ride two horses' in Dr Beth Upton trans row

Conservative MSP Tess White said there was a contradiction in the Scottish Government's position. It came as Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Social Justice Secretary, said the Government "stands firmly" behind single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act.

She faced questions in Holyrood on Tuesday after it was reported NHS Fife may have broken the law by failing to carry out an impact assessment when it allowed a trans doctor to use a female changing room.

Nurse Sandie Peggie was suspended from her work at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in January last year after she objected to Dr Beth Upton, a trans woman, using the female changing room in the accident-and-emergency (A&E) department on Christmas Eve 2023.

She has lodged a claim against the Fife health board and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment, harassment related to a protected belief, indirect discrimination and victimisation.

On Friday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) wrote to NHS Fife requesting "a copy of any equality impact assessment relating to the provision of changing facilities for staff".

Ms Peggie's lawyer Margaret Gribbon told The Herald she had previously established no such assessment was carried out. Asked about the EHRC letter in Holyrood, Ms Somerville said public authorities had a duty to "assess and review proposed, new or revised policies and practices".

She said: "This Government stands firmly behind the separate single-sex exemptions provided in the 2010 Act. Members will be aware this allows for trans people to be excluded when this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

"Public bodies are responsible for complying with the 2010 Act and its regulations."

However, Ms White referenced a Supreme Court battle over the definition of a woman in law, in which the Scottish Government has argued a trans person with a gender recognition certificate has changed their sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.

"SNP ministers keep trying to ride two horses on single-sex spaces, but they can't keep reading out the same script that sex is protected under the Equality Act 2010, while arguing in the UK's highest court that 'sex' does not mean biological sex," she said.