Women's manifesto launch with gender reform rebel 'shows we accept we were wrong', says Anas Sarwar

The Scottish Labour leader launched the manifesto at an event in Cumnock, Ayrshire with Carol Mochan.

Ms Mochan resigned from the Labour frontbench after breaking the party whip by voting against the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. She later returned a shadow health minister.

When asked if he had a “brass neck” to be launching the women’s manifesto alongside Ms Mochan, Mr Sarwar said: “I think it's a demonstration that we have accepted where we got it wrong and what we have to do to make sure we're supporting women across the country.

“Carol and many of our female colleagues have been central to developing the women's manifesto, something I'm really proud of.

“I want to be a First Minister that's on the side of women. I want to be leading a Scottish government that is making life safer better for women across the country, and that means following the law.

“It means implementing the Equality Act in full. It means protecting single sex spaces based on biological sex, that's services, spaces and sport.”

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When asked if he had apologised to Ms Mochan about the party supporting gender recognition reform, Mr Sarwar said: “I am really proud that she’s a shadow minister.

“I'm really proud to be launching the women manifesto with her. I'm really proud that she was part of the process of the women's manifesto, but I want to see her as a minister in government and delivering for the good people of Scotland.”

Ms Mochan is the Labour candidate in Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley and was a South of Scotland list MSP in the last parliament.

The women’s manifesto pledged to “deliver single-sex spaces” for women.

It also vowed to “keep women’s prisons for women” and “instruct the Scottish Prison Service to remove all biologically male prisoners from women’s prisons within days of the election”.

It comes after a trans prisoner was charged with the sexual assault of a fellow inmate at the women’s HMP Greenock last week.

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When asked if there was anything new in the women’s manifesto, Mr Sarwar said: “There are a number of measures, obviously, which are associated to the broader manifesto that we published a week or so ago.

“But following the law is new when you have an SNP government that doesn't follow the law. Stopping the challenges in court is new when you've got an SNP government that uses taxpayers' money to challenge women in court.

“It is new to say we'll build the homes this country needs so we don't have homeless families. It is new to say we'll have 9,000 new apprenticeships and target that support to make sure everyone gets equal access to those opportunities.

“And it is new to say that we are going to put women's health at the front of our plan to cut NHS waiting lists into the very proper preventative health service that is all really welcome.”