Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has vowed to ban trans women from all female prisons in Scotland “within days” if he becomes first minister after the Holyrood election.

Writing for the Daily Record on 2 February, Sarwar has said that, if voted in, his party will “act swiftly” to ensure that the country’s prisons are “single-sex, based on biological sex”.

His pledge came ahead of a Court of Sessions hearing this week at Scotland’s highest civil court between “grassroots women’s group” For Women Scotland and the Scottish government.

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FWS is taking action against the government over what they call “unlawful” prison guidelines. The current Scottish Prison Service guidance allows trans women to be admitted into female prisons if the prisoner in question does not meet the violence against women and girls criteria, and is deemed not to pose an “unacceptable risk of harm” to other prisoners.

Sarwar said: “The Supreme Court is clear; the Equality Act must be respected. That means defending single-sex spaces for biological women in services, in sport and in everyday life. That is what I will deliver in government. But nowhere does this matter more than in our prison system. Women’s prisons exist for a reason – to keep women safe.”

He continued: “Many women in custody have experienced trauma and violence, often at the hands of men. It is simply not right that men who have committed sexual or violent crimes against women can be housed in women’s prisons. That undermines safety, dignity and trust.”

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