John Swinney is making a ­‘shameful’ bid to torpedo the ­landmark ruling on women’s spaces by arguing it shouldn’t bar men from female prisons.

The SNP Government has asked a judge to rule last year’s Supreme Court decision breaches the human rights of trans inmates.

The ‘underhand’ move is despite Mr Swinney and other ministers claiming they accept the Supreme Court’s ruling that biological sex trumps gender preferences.

One of the First Minister’s own MSPs publicly challenged him on the issue yesterday and warned the Government’s position risked the safety of vulnerable women.

Michelle Thomson said she was ‘very distressed’ by the ‘secret’ development.

Scottish Tory equalities spokesman Tess White said: ‘This is a shameful example of nationalist ministers scheming behind closed doors to overturn the law.

‘It’s been nine months since the Supreme Court ruling, but they just can’t accept it.

‘Their underhand attempt to undermine this crystal clear verdict risks making it virtually impossible to keep biological males out of women’s prisons – putting vulnerable female inmates in real danger.

John Swinney comes under fire at First Minister's Questions on Thursday

Double rapist Isla Bryson, who caused a public outcry when the trans-identifying male was initially sent to a women's jail

‘John Swinney needs to grow a backbone, stop dancing to the tune of gender extremists and enforce the Supreme Court ruling in full.’

Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC called it ‘absolutely disgraceful’.

The Supreme Court ruling followed campaigners For Women Scotland (FWS) successfully challenging a Holyrood law about women on public bodies.

Five justices unanimously ruled biology determined a person’s rights under the UK Equality Act, not gender choice.

It effectively put women-only spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and refuges out of bounds to biological males who identify as women.

SNP ministers updated guidance on school bathrooms and girls’ sport as a result, but stubbornly refused to change a 2024 prison policy allowing biological men who identify as women to serve their sentences in female jails.

In September, FWS launched a judicial review to overturn the prisons policy, which the Government is defending.

The Times reported SNP ministers want a judge to dismiss the action outright, and failing that to issue a ‘declaration of incompatibility’ saying the Supreme Court decision should not apply in prisons.

Ministers argue it would breach a trans prisoner’s rights to house them according to their biological sex.