Common sense wins the day on definition of a woman

Telegraph

16-04-2025

It's pretty straightforward to decide who comes out best from the Supreme Court's unanimous verdict on, believe it or not, 'what is a woman?' Obviously, and certainly in my opinion, the vast majority of women everywhere will reckon they do and, of course, so will the four women who took their fight all the way to the UK's highest court and won.
In terms of those who sprinkled stardust of their campaign, JK Rowling was a brilliant advocate for the cause and seemingly content to accept all the slings and arrows from her opponents, who included, incredibly, Nicola Sturgeon, then the first minister of Scotland. And let's not forget Joanna Cherry, an indefatigable legal eagle who never for a second retreated from her principled opposition to the changes her own party was seeking to make even if it did lead to bitter denunciations from former colleagues.
Politically, of course, it's the SNP that deserves all the brickbats for seeking to foist on Scotland and indeed the rest of the UK an alien form of public behaviour that would have allowed trans women, who remained biological males, access to hitherto female only facilities – such as toilets and changing rooms.
But right at the top of the list of victors should go good old-fashioned common sense. That's what Wednesday's learned judgement delivered. It is a ridiculous situation that should never have reached the highest court in the land: it shouldn't have been judges deciding what is or isn't a woman. Biology and nature, combined with common sense should have made that abundantly clear to everyone.
As far as politics is concerned, there is no doubt that the Scottish Tories win hands down, at least in relation to the attempted legislation that ultimately took the trans issue all the way to the Supreme Court. This involved – who else? – Ms Sturgeon and her ill-fated and badly thought out Gender Recognition Bill for which only three Tory MSPs voted and one of them has subsequently defected to the Lib Dems.
But the former first minister didn't give up when that measure was blocked by the UK government and her administration then 'persuaded' the Scottish courts that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate were entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women.
That was the verdict that the Supreme Court overturned thanks to the persistence of the For Women Scotland activists.
There is no ambiguity in the mind of Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory leader. In his reaction to the verdict he said that John Swinney, the First Minister, 'now needs to respect women's rights and get rid of the dangerous gender policies which have become embedded in Scotland's public institutions'.
Meanwhile, for his part, Mr Swinney said his Government accepted the Supreme Court's decision, saying it provided 'clarity' but added that 'protecting the rights of all' would continue to underpin its actions.
It is difficult to see from this distance what effect Wednesday's decision will have on political popularity in Scotland. The latest opinion poll, which aimed to judge where the parties stand as they begin their preparations for the next Scottish Parliament election, now just over 12 months away, delivered very bad news for Unionists.
It suggested that those parties which support Scottish independence, which include Alba and the Scottish Greens, as well as the SNP, stand to gain an overall majority of 29 over the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems and Reform in Holyrood – more than enough, they'll claim, for another referendum on breaking up the UK.
However, we won't have to wait until next May to test the parties' strengths. There is to be a by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse on June 5, following the death of Christina McKelvie, a popular SNP minister who had a 4,500 majority over Labour at the last Holyrood election.
The SNP will be favourites again, but with Reform on the list, and with Nigel Farage, the party leader, announcing that he'll be campaigning, there is set to be a lot of drama. The Tories have no chance of winning but will be doing their utmost to at least top the Reform candidate's vote, which is a tall order.
Labour have selected a strong local candidate in Davy Russell but can't really mount an all out attack on the SNP over their trans policies as most of Scottish Labour's MSPs voted for Sturgeon's controversial Bill. We're told that wiser counsels have now prevailed in Labour's ranks but what the Scottish party really needs is a firm statement and guidance from Sir Keir Starmer over what Labour's policy is on the trans issue.
Is that forthcoming?