Anas Sarwar has said he does not regret supporting the Scottish Government over its controversial gender recognition reforms.
The Scottish Labour leader said it had been right to help trans people, but insisted tighter curbs on sex offenders should have been introduced.
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill made it easier for people to change gender by de-medicalising the process and lowering the age limit.
MSPs passed the Bill before Christmas, with Labour whipping its members to back the proposals.
But the UK Government blocked the legislation from coming into force amid concerns over its impact on women and girls.
Sarwar, who has been criticised by senior Labour figures for his stance on GRR, was asked by the Record if he regretted his support.
“No, I think it’s important to stress that we have taken a good faith approach from start to finish,” he said.
“We were very honest at stage one of that process that we didn’t think the legislation was anywhere near good enough, so we supported it based on its principles.”
However, he was critical that other amendments on single sex spaces and barring sex offenders from receiving a gender recognition certificate were not approved.
“I think we were right to support the principle of removing the inhumanities of obtaining a GRC, but I think the government was wrong, ultimately, in terms of rejecting those amendments around sex offenders and around single sex spaces, and I think that that mistake is now pretty clear for people to see.”
He said the UK Government blocking the legislation was the “wrong” approach:
“The right approach would have been to instruct the Equality and Human Rights Commission, whose statutory duty it is to perform this role, to issue guidance following the passing of the GRR Bill.”
He also addressed the scandal of Isla Bryson, a rapist housed in a female prison after claiming to be a woman. This was in spite of her sexual offences being committed as a man.
Asked if he believed Bryson is a woman, he said: “Isla Bryson committed rape. Rape is committed by a man in Scots law and therefore should be treated as such. So a rapist, a man, should not be allowed into a woman’s prison. I think that is pretty clear.”
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