Scottish Labour chiefs lose conference vote for biology-based single-sex spaces

Scottish Labour’s ruling body has suffered at blow at the party’s annual conference in a row over gender identity, after the defeat of a motion they backed which had argued single-sex spaces for children should be “based on biology”.

Delegates at Scottish Labour conference on Friday engaged in passionate and at times raucous debate over the Cass Review, which also featured in the motion.

It comes only days after Anas Sarwar said he favoured the protection of sex-based single-sex spaces following a high-profile tribunal case, and said he regretted his party having supported the Scottish government’s gender recognition reforms.

It also follows a similar debate at last year’s conference, which saw delegates vote down a motion which had urged it to “acknowledge the principle of women’s sex-based rights”, despite most Constituency Labour Party delegates and the Scottish Labour women’s conference supporting that motion.

The latest ‘Cass Review Guidance’ motion, proposed by Glasgow Cathcart CLP, called on the Scottish Executive Committee and MSPs to be “respectful” of single-sex spaces based on biology, and ensure support is provided to “gender-dysphoric and gender-questioning children” in accordance with the recommendations of the Cass Review.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour rejects ‘sex-based rights’ motion backed by women’s conference and most CLPs (from 2024)

The SEC, the Scottish party’s governing body, had backed the motion, but it was voted down. Delegates engaged in a heated debate around it, with some of those in favour at times heckling and booing others speaking to oppose.

One of those speaking in favour of the motion described the Cass Review as a “reality check” and called on the Scottish Government to reverse its guidance of “unquestioning affirmation” of children’s gender identity.

The delegate also claimed that some children had been “profoundly harmed by gender ideology” and that schools had been teaching “anti-science beliefs as fact”.

Another encouraged the government to “let children be children”, while one delegate highlighted that the Cass Report had been accepted by the Labour government in Westminster.

However, one of those opposing the motion described it as “deeply problematic” and called on Scottish Labour to “stand on the right side of history”. Another said the motion would not have been out of place within Reform UK, while one delegate took to the stage to say: “We proudly abolished Section 28 and there should be no return.”

Read more on Scottish Labour conference:

• Interview: Ian Murray on the latest polls, pat leave and Labour ‘not aping Reform’
• Joani Reid MP: ‘Here’s why Scottish Labour shouldn’t despair at the polls’
• Delegates at Scottish Labour conference set to debate motions on winter fuel, Cass review, and others
• Scottish Labour conference: Emergency motion on Palestine to be debated

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