DOUGLAS Ross has apologised for “mispeaking” as he defended his party’s policy on single-sex spaces in council-run facilities. 

Last night, in an interview with the BBC, the Scottish Conservative leader was asked if a trans woman was a woman.

He replied: "No. She is a female, sorry she is a male who has changed her sex but has not changed her gender."

In an interview with the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Ross admitted that he’d got it wrong.

He said: "I misspoke in a later comment in that interview.

"I'm very clear that people can change their gender, they cannot change their sex."

The Tory MSP was answering questions on his manifesto vow to “ensure that there are single-sex spaces available in all council-run facilities, including schools, parks and swimming pools”.

He suggested that local authorities should three sets of changing rooms and toilets, for male, female and gender-neutral.

He said: "In the Highland area I cover, there were proposals for schools to have all gender-neutral toilets but parents and pupils raised concerns and they've now gone back to the drawing board.

"There will be male changing rooms, female changing rooms and there will be gender-neutral changing rooms."

Asked if these public buildings would be required to now provide three different spaces, Mr Ross replied “yes.”

He continued: “That is what we are seeing in some of the schools that have changed there plans. In some of the schools all the toilets were going to be gender neutral and male female and trans used the same facility.

“Some people were concerned about boys and girls sharing the same facilities, and therefore there is an option to have male toilets, female toilets and gender neutral toilets.”

Asked if people seeing a trans woman using a female-only space should complain, Mr Ross said: “Yes, and that is really serious – this is what it comes down to – women feeling safe in their own spaces.

“The hard-fought and won rights of women are under threat and that’s why we are seeing more and more women come forward and getting involved in this debate.

“[They are] articulating their concerns and they have to be listened to and responded to.

“I think a lot of this debate, understandably, is very emotive, but a lot of this debate is not considering the views of the many women who have come forward.”

He pointed to guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission published earlier this month saying services such as bathrooms and domestic abuse refuges can be single-sex in certain circumstances, but that they should be open to trans people wherever possible, and that exceptions were only acceptable if there are "proportionate and justified reasons".

Mr Ross said: “We are following what the HRC [Human Rights and Equality Commission] has said about these various facilities.

“I think we are the only party that has put this in our manifesto, but it does follow the comments from the HRC.”

Responding to Mr Ross’s interview, the Equality Network said the Tory leader was “woefully misinformed and confused” and “proposing an unlawful policy.” 

They added: “It is unlawful under the Equality Act for public services to have a blanket policy of excluding trans people from services that match their lived sex.

“The proposal also shows no consideration at all for trans people, or for the experiences of those who have been successfully running trans-inclusive single-sex services for years.

“Difficult not to conclude that this is simply attempting to gain votes from a ‘culture war’.”