Ash Regan warns First Minister “Government must apologise to women to rebuild trust in politics”

ASH Regan MSP has called on First Minister John Swinney to apologise to women to help rebuild trust in politics. 

The Alba MSP issued the call after a summit held today by John Swinney that aimed to tackle the rise of extremism - with many claiming it is an attempt to lock Reform UK out of Scottish politics. 

Ms Regan attended in her capacity as ALBA Holyrood leader responding to an invite by the First Minister to MSPs.

Ash Regan says that if John Swinney wants to address many of the issues discussed at today’s summit he “needs to start by apologising to women that have been talked down to for too long”. 

The Alba Party MSP says that trust needs to be rebuilt amongst women in Scotland let down by the SNPs gender policies and that must start with an apology “only then will we be able to move forward on the footing of participation, openness and accountability that the First Minister proposed today.” 

Commenting Ash Regan MSP said: 

“Scotland is not an extremist country—but people are scunnered by political posturing without action. Tackling extremism begins with rebuilding trust, and that means creating space for real, respectful debate. We must stop labelling those we disagree with and start convincing them with better arguments. If we want to avoid extremes, we need balance and balance starts by listening - never again should the concerns of women be deemed “not valid”. 

“We are close to only one year out from the Scottish elections but for too many independence is drifting into becoming an abstract concept. Women are over half of the population so Scotland can’t vote for independence without the support of women. 

“If John Swinney wants to move Scotland away from the broken politics of Westminster then he needs to get serious about independence and that requires the trust of women to be regained.”