NO APOLOGIES FROM NICOLA OVER GENDER SHAMBLES

NICOLA Sturgeon was last night told she owes the women and girls of Scotland an apology after admitting she should have paused her controversial gender reforms.

- By Douglas Dickie

In an extract published yesterday from her memoir, Frankly, she finally admitted it "might have been wiser to take a step back than to dig my heels in".

Expanding further in an interview with ITV, she said: "At the point I knew it was becoming, or felt it becoming, as polarised I should have said, 'Right, OK, let's pause, let's take a step back"." But she has so far refused to apologise after dismissing critics of the legislation and fears her ideology would put women and girls at risk.

The Gender Recognition Reform Bill would have simplified the process by which a male could legally 'identify' as a woman.

Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Tess White said yesterday that Scots expect to see Ms Sturgeon show "some introspection about her reckless approach to gender self-ID".