Sturgeon refusal to say sorry over women's rights is history 'rewrite'

NICOLA STURGEON was accused of “rewriting history” as she refused to apologise over her role in the “betrayal” of women’s rights yesterday.

- By David Walker Scottish Politics Reporter

The former first minister was a leading advocate of gender self-identification, which allows biological men to identify as women and access single-sex facilities.

Her attempts to force through the Gender Recognition Bill were blocked by the UK Government and she was accused of failing to properly consult with women’s groups.

The UK Supreme Court ruled last month that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex — torpedoing the concept of gender self-ID.

During a rare appearance at Holyrood yesterday, Ms Sturgeon was asked if she agreed with the likes of pressure group For Women Scotland and her former SNP rival Joanna Cherry that she owed women an apology.

She replied: “I fundamentally and respectfully disagree because the views of all opinions were taken account of in the run-up to Parliament, not the SNP, but Parliament as a whole. With support from across all parties, for that legislation, the time taken to get to the point of decision on that was probably longer than for any other bill.

“And different people had their say. Then Parliament decided on it. I recognise the different views on this. I’ve always recognised the different views on this, but it’s important that respect goes in both directions.”