Equality law changes an ‘outright threat’ to devolution – Swinney

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called the policy pledge an attempt to create a “culture war.”

Mr Sarwar told BBC Scotland News that the legislation required “clarification”, rather than being re-written.

He said: “What the Conservatives want to do is create this as a dead cat issue in this election, to create a culture war and talk about a long process of reforming legislation, when in actual fact the Equality Act already protects biological sex.”

Mr Sarwar added that any legislation changes required a “grown-up approach” and that Labour would look to issue further guidance in the near future.

Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, championed the gender recognition bill at Holyrood. She said she was “very concerned” at Ms Badenoch’s comments.

She added that it was “outrageous that Westminster is further encroaching into the devolution settlement”.

Wendy Chamberlain, the deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said that the plans had “no substance behind them”.

She added: “The Section 35 order last year has, de facto, made gender reserved to Westminster and in terms of single sex provisions, those exemptions already exist in the act as well.”