Why is 'sorry' still the hardest word for politicians proved so hopelessly wrong on gender ideology?

For years, senior Scottish politicians traduced women who dared argue that biological sex was both real and significant.

Under the spell of well-funded trans activists, government ministers sneered at entirely legitimate concerns over allowing those born male into female-only safe spaces.

Feminist campaigners were cruelly vilified for stating that no human can change their sex.

So far as the self-styled “progressives” of Holyrood were concerned, trans women were quite literally women and there was no debate to be had.

The UK Supreme Court last week confirmed that those political leaders were hopelessly wrong.

In a clear and unanimous decision in a case brought by campaign group For Women Scotland, the court ruled that, in law, a women is defined by her biological sex.

This should have been a moment for reflection and contrition. Instead, what followed was an unpleasant cacophony of obfuscation and denial.

First Minister John Swinney - whose government had argued that a gender recognition certificate (GRC) changed someone’s sex under the Equality Act 2010 - grudgingly accepted the judgement but conspicuously failed to address the horrific abuse women have faced from leading members of his party for rejecting the incoherent tenets of gender ideology.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison waffled about there being no winners in the case despite the fact she was very much on the losing side.

The truth - and truth still matters - is that Swinney, Robison and dozens more members of the Scottish Parliament, were enthusiastic supporters of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s failed attempt to permit anyone to self-identify into the legally-recognised sex of their choosing.

As Sturgeon’s deputy First Minister, Swinney cared nothing for the fears of women who said that allowing males into female spaces was dangerous. He remained silent while colleagues such as former nationalist MP Joanna Cherry received death and rape threats for stating sex-based rights mattered. And he stood firmly behind the Scottish Government’s position that trans women were women right up until the moment the Supreme Court confirmed that as utter nonsense.

Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar went further than Swinney. After the Supreme Court ruling, he attempted to rewrite history, claiming he’d always called for the protection of single sex spaces on the basis of biology.

This was gaslighting on the grandest scale: the truth is that Sarwar whipped his MSPs to back the SNP’s attempt to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow men to “become” women on the basis of their own say so. Sarwar should be embarrassed by his pitiful attempt to redefine himself as a champion of women’s rights when the Scottish Parliamentary record tells an entirely different story.

Nicola Sturgeon, whose obsession with dismantling women’s rights in order to meet the demands of trans activists contributed to her political downfall, remains silent. Small mercies and all that.

The decision of the Supreme Court should put an end to the lie that there is some compromise to be reached between the sex-based rights of women and the entirely unreasonable demands of trans activists. It should now be perfectly safe for even the most cowardly MSP to state that a woman is, quite simply, an adult human female.

There is, I’m afraid, little sign that Swinney is ready to make that the SNP’s stance.

The vast majority of the voting public may have been opposed to reform of the Gender Recognition Act but the nationalists - in common with Scottish Labour - would not accept such a position could be held in good faith.

Some humility from those politicians who put the demands of activists before the rights of women would be most welcome, right now.

The women who endured years of abuse, threats, sackings and even assaults for arguing that men cannot magically become women deserve apologies from Swinney, Sarwar, Sturgeon and many others.

Instead, politicians who were unequivocally wrong on gender would like us to believe that, despite the Supreme Court ruling, this remains a complicated matter.

Sources within both the SNP and Labour tell me that there remains a balance to be struck between what women deserve and what men demand.

There is not and it is time for them to accept as much.

Wednesday’s court ruling provided an opportunity for mainstream political leaders to escape the swamp caused by gender ideology and its monomaniacal proponents.

Swinney and Sarwar should have said that they had been wrong to back reform of the GRA. They should have said that no human can change sex.

And they should have apologised for their past enthusiasm for dismantling the rights of every woman and girl in Scotland.

But to apologise would have taken moral courage, something that neither the First Minister nor the Scottish Labour leader possess.

Swinney and Sarwar, say sources close to both men, would very much like to “move on” from this issue. I’m sure they would for to linger on it is to be reminded of the contempt they have shown for women.

The Supreme Court ruling will not end the chaos caused by political support for self-ID. Across Scotland, public bodies have allowed men to access women’s spaces simply by claiming a change of sex has occurred and it will take a long time for sanity to be restored.

At Holyrood, the Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrats will continue to push for women’s rights to be erased. And they will have support in this mission from SNP and Labour MSPs who, privately in many cases, remain convinced that a trans woman is a woman.

For Women Scotland celebrated a hugely important win, last week.

It would be good to see John Swinney, Anas Sarwar and others not only hail that victory but also accept, with good grace, their deserved defeat.