For Women Scotland: SNP government settles £392,500 legal bill
For Women Scotland says it has received the ‘full and final settlement’ from the Scottish Government.
The SNP government has spent more than £760,000 of taxpayers’ money on its two judicial reviews against For Women Scotland.
For Women Scotland says it has now received the “full and final settlement” of £392,500 from Scottish ministers after taking the Scottish Government to the UK Supreme Court over the definition of the word “woman”.
This includes £150,000 for the judicial review in the Court of Session and £242,500 for the case at the Supreme Court.
The group said they will spend this money on its current legal challenge against the government’s prison guidance on single-sex spaces, and “any future legal action necessary to ensure the Scottish Government complies with the law”.
In a statement For Women Scotland said: “We are eternally grateful for the overwhelming public support that enabled us to successfully challenge the Scottish Government’s unlawful actions and to clarify that ‘woman’, ‘man’ and ‘sex’ have always taken their biological meaning in the Equality Act 2010.”
For Women Scotland says the government spent a total of £216,182.50 on the judicial review at the Court of Session’s inner house on 18 February 2022, including £68,682.50 on its own legal costs and £146,500 to cover For Women Scotland’s legal fees.
It added the total spend by the government on the UK Supreme Court case on 16 April 2025 was at least £550,316.30, including £157,816.30 on their own legal fees and £392,500 on For Women Scotland’s legal fees.
This brings the total taxpayers’ money spent on the two reviews to £766,498.80.
Tess White MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ equalities spokeswoman, said: “SNP ministers have taken far too long to pay what is owed, but they should never have squandered taxpayers’ cash in the first place on defending the indefensible.
“Worse still, the nationalists have not learned their lesson and are wasting even more public cash on a legal fight to allow male-bodied prisoners to be housed in women’s jails.
“John Swinney’s refusal to accept the Supreme Court’s ruling is putting women at risk - he needs to grow a backbone and stop dancing to the tune of gender extremists.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has made clear it accepts the Supreme Court ruling and is taking forward the detailed work necessary. There is an established process whereby parties seek to establish the final costs payable for a legal case. This has now concluded and payment has been settled.”
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