SWINNEY SNUB FOR TRANS CASE NURSE SANDIE

Tory leader steps in after FM refuses invite to meet crusading medic

- By David Walker

JOHN SWINNEY and Kate Forbes snubbed an offer to meet Sandie Peggie yesterday as the crusading nurse attended Holyrood.

The NHS Fife employee became one of the most famous women in the country after taking her health board to an employment tribunal.

She visited the Scottish Parliament alongside fellow women's rights campaigners, including Maya Forstater from Sex Matters - which has threatened the SNP Government with fresh legal action.

Ms Peggie met a number of politicians including the Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay, Scottish Labour MSPs, plus Alba Party's Ash Regan and the SNP's Michelle Thomson. But there was no warm welcome from the First Minister and his deputy as they declined an invitation to meet.

The Scottish Government later said it couldn't comment further on the snub due to “judicial proceedings in an employment tribunal being ongoing”.

Ms Peggie, 50, is set to face up to NHS Fife once again next month as her tribunal resumes. She is suing the health board after being suspended for complaining about sharing a changing room with a biological male, trans doctor Beth Upton, previously known as Theodore.

She confronted the medic on Christmas Eve 2023 at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, claiming she felt uncomfortable changing in front of him. He reported her to management who suspended her.

The A&E nurse did invite Mr Swinney and Ms Forbes to meet her but was snubbed. Another key SNP figure, Health Secretary Neil Gray, has already backed NHS Fife's leadership over Ms Peggie, claiming he had full confidence in the health board, which has been slated for breaching freedom of information law by refusing to hand over documentation.

Suffocating