SNP rebel Ash Regan has vowed to dump Nicola Sturgeon’s disastrous gender reforms and unite her party if elected First Minister. Regan hit the headlines in October when she resigned as Minister for Community Safety in opposition to the GRR Bill, amid fears the safety of women and girls would be compromised.
Announcing her bid for the top job in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mail, she said: “Women’s rights will never be compromised with me”.
The Edinburgh MSP and mum of two also made clear her focus would be on public services and the economy rather than new laws that hinder business and interfere with family life. Regan also indicated she would be willing to work with Alex Salmond’s Alba Party as part of an Independence Convention to build support for a referendum.
She said: “We need a new direction and we need to reprioritise. We need to bring back unity, draw a line under certain things and move past them. I believe I am the person to do that. I would not be progressing the GRR Bill, it’s caused a lot of division, it’s extremely flawed and I wouldn’t want it to take up any more time.
"The electorate expect the Scottish Government to focus on things that are important to them. That means the NHS which is still struggling to get back on its feet after the pandemic.
“People expect a First Minister to concentrate on boosting the economy, creating jobs and helping them deal with the cost of living crisis. Those are the things people are concerned about right now and I think that’s what the government and the parliament should be concerned with.”
Regan, 48, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, stepped down over fears Sturgeon’s GRR Bill would compromise safety in single sex spaces by making it easier for abusive men to self-identify as women. Public opposition sparked a major crisis for the Scottish Government and SNP after double rapist Isla Bryson was sent to a female prison.
Opinion polls for independence have plunged and there are claims thousands of female members have abandoned the Nationalists. The UK Government has now blocked the Bill and Regan made clear it would not be resurrected on her watch.
She added: “To women who have left the SNP, my message is that women’s rights would be 100 per cent safe with me. I hope I’ve demonstrated that. It was a tough decision to resign and vote against the government after over four years as a minister but I had to stand by my principles.
"I had raised concerns beforehand but it became very clear the legislation was going to progress and that amendments were not likely to get accepted. It was a red line – I would never vote for anything that would put women and girls in danger. After I handed in my resignation letter I had no idea what would happen next.
“It’s been a toxic debate, I’d watched female colleagues making comments and receive threats so I even took the precaution of sending my constituency staff home and closing the office. But actually I was flooded with messages of support. It was important to speak out and give a voice to people who were not being heard.”
Regan revealed she would also look at rolling back gender policies already in place that led to rapist Isla Bryson, who was born a man, being placed in a women’s prison. She added: “The public can clearly see the problems with using self-identification in decision making when allocating prisoners.
“I would be looking to end that policy and hold people according to their birth gender. One of the options would be a trans wing on the prison estate.
"What I want to do is make sure everybody’s rights are protected. Women prisoners are particularly vulnerable – and putting dangerous, violent sex offenders into the women’s prison state is not a good policy.”
Sturgeon has come under increased criticism for failing to deliver on the economy, NHS, education and health, while obsessing over new laws on gender and hate speech, as well as a controversial deposit return scheme for cans and bottles, and low emission zones in cities.
Regan vowed to make delivering on the economy and infrastructure her priority rather than laws that interfered with business and families.
She said: “I’m not going to be bringing forward any new legislation that makes things more difficult for businesses. I’m not going to be progressing anything that’s going to interfere with family life either because I think that the public has shown that they’re not interested in that.
“There’s too much focus on new legislation rather than delivering for the people of Scotland. I would concentrate on policies that help the economy and create jobs. We need infrastructure that will make Scotland safer, more efficient and a better place to live – completing work on the A9 and A96 for example should be a top priority.
“I want to help business flourish rather than hitting them with new rules and regulations, so for example we need to look at things like the deposit return scheme. I’m not saying that it can’t be made to work but I would not be forcing it through when it is not ready and ignoring serious and legitimate concerns from business. We need to listen.
“You have to be really careful at the moment, businesses are struggling, energy costs and Brexit are taking a huge toll and we the Scottish Government shouldn’t be making things even more difficult.”
Regan was born in Glasgow where her dad had a kilt shop, and went to school in Biggar, Lanarkshire, before moving to England where she lived in Devon for a period as well as attending university in the Midlands. She worked in public relations in London before getting married and moving back to Scotland to bring up her twin boys, who are now 19.
Regan first became politically active in the run-up to the 2014 referendum, joining Women for Independence and contributing to the Yes Scotland campaign. After becoming an MSP in 2016, she first started to believe she could lead her party and Scotland around Christmas amid mounting criticism of the SNP’s direction.
There had been speculation for months that Sturgeon’s time at the helm could be coming to an end, even though the speed with which she announced her departure caught everyone by surprise.
Regan added: “I’m not someone that got into politics and was immediately thinking about the top job, that’s not me. But I’ve come to this decision because I think that we need a new direction.
“We need unity and I think I can achieve that. I believe I would make a good leader and so I am putting my hat in the ring and asking the party to support me. I am up for the challenge.
“I’m just really passionate about making Scotland the best place for all of us to live, the absolute best place, and I’ll stand up for Scotland and Scottish interests with everything I’ve got.”
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