John Swinney denies rift with deputy over SNP gender stance

John Swinney has denied there is a rift between him and Kate Forbes over the SNP’s gender self-ID reforms after she praised JK Rowling for her “principled stance” on trans issues.

The First Minister did not contest that Ms Forbes, his deputy, had a different view from him on whether Nicola Sturgeon’s controversial Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill should be resurrected.

However, he said that they were “prepared to work together for a common cause” and he was willing to listen to other views before deciding the SNP’s final position on the issue.

Mr Swinney told BBC Radio Four’s Women’s Hour he had succeeded in bringing his party back together again during his seven-week tenure as leader so that it was “cohesive and focused and united.”

But his intervention came after he told last weekend’s Edinburgh Pride march that the UK Government should lift its veto of the GRR Bill so that self-ID could be implemented.

This would allow Scots to change their legal gender by simply signing a statutory declaration, dropping the requirement for a formal medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

The UK Government blocked the legislation over concerns it undermined UK-wide women’s rights, including the sanctity of safe spaces such as changing rooms.

‘Principled stance’

In contrast, Ms Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, declined this week to retract previous remarks in which she labelled Rowling a “national treasure” and “brave”. She also admitted that she shared her views on transgender issues.

Speaking on the campaign trail, Ms Forbes told The Telegraph that “anybody who takes a principled stance is brave in that regard, and I think that we need to have open discussions on these issues.”

She has previously said she would not have supported the GRR Bill during the final Holyrood vote on the legislation in December 2022. She was absent on maternity leave at the time.

Rowling has called Ms Sturgeon a “destroyer of women’s rights” and criticised Mr Swinney in May for refusing to say if he believed that trans women are women.

The Harry Potter author accused him of “obfuscating and blustering to avoid uttering the dangerous words ‘women don’t have penises’.”

Ms Swinney admitted there were “tensions and difficulties” with the issue and said he wanted to take the debate forward in a “respectful fashion.”

“I’ve spent the last seven weeks, yes, involved in the election campaign but also bringing my party back together again. I think I’ve succeeded in that mission,” he said.

“My party is cohesive and focused and united. And crucially, it’s respectful, respectful of different points of view, and will consider those points of view and come to a conclusion.”

‘Intensely polarised’

Pressed again that he and Ms Forbes were “not on the same page on this very important issue”, the First Minister said: “No, I think what we’ve got are people who are prepared to work together for a common cause, and to listen to each other with care, and to listen to all of our colleagues with care and to bring people to points of agreement and that’s precisely what I’ve done since I became leader of the Scottish National Party.”

He admitted that Scotland and Holyrood were “intensely polarised” at the moment but insisted that he did not want to do anything that jeopardised protections for women-only safe spaces.

But Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Tories’ deputy leader, said: “John Swinney – who gave his full support to Nicola Sturgeon’s reckless gender self-ID bill – continues to arrogantly ignore the legitimate concerns of women and girls over their safety.

“The gender policy he and the SNP are wedded to fails to protect single-sex spaces.”