SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar came a cropper in an interview on transgender prisoners after pledging to ban them from female jails "within days" if he becomes first minister.
After making the pledge, Sarwar was asked how many transgender prisoners are currently in Scotland's jails by Channel 4.
He said he "did not know the exact figures" but believed there were three.
Reporter Kathryn Samson then corrected him to say there were more than six times as many, with 19 currently in Scotland's prisons.
She asked: "How many transgender prisoners are currently in Scotland's prison estate?"
Sarwar replied: "So I don't know the exact figures but I believe it's close to three."
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The two of them then got into a back and forth with Sarwar struggling to explain why he did not know the answer after making such a serious pledge.
Samson then left Sarwar red-faced when she said: "There's 19. Do you see why it can be quite hard for someone to believe this is a serious issue for you rather than about cynical opportunism?"
Sarwar then hit back and accused Samson of asking cynical questions.
He went on: "Whether it is one or whether it is 19, the fact remains the same, that we must uphold and respect the Equality Act, that we will protect single sex spaces based on biological sex and that we will follow the guidance of the Equality and Human Rights Commission."
Samson then asked whether voters would think Scottish Labour might change their minds on other issues if it suited them politically, such as same sex marriage.
Sarwar replied: "I'm not talking about rowing back on basic principles that we have accepted in our country, but I think we have to be really careful here. Are we saying we are going to sacrifice the hard fought rights of women and there is so much still to do to deliver equal rights for women across our country."
Sarwar’s stance is different from his previous position on trans rights. He whipped his MSPs to support the SNP Scottish Government’s gender self-ID law in 2022 and sacked colleagues who rebelled.
The Scottish Labour leader has pledged that his party will "act swiftly" to ensure prisons are "single-sex, based on biological sex" if it gets into power in May.
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His declaration came ahead of a Court of Session hearing this week between For Women Scotland (FWS) and the Scottish Government over the management of transgender prisoners.
FWS is taking action at Scotland's highest civil court, claiming the current guidelines are "unlawful" in light of last year's landmark Supreme Court judgement over the definition of a woman.
Current Scottish Prison Service (SPS) guidance allows for a transgender woman to be admitted into the female prison estate if the inmate does not meet the violence against women and girls criteria, and there is no other basis "to suppose" they could pose an "unacceptable risk of harm" to those also housed there.
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