Scottish Government still to pay For Women Scotland legal bill, according to women’s rights campaigner

For Women Scotland has claimed the Scottish Government has not settled the legal bill incurred from its recent UK Supreme Court defeat.  

In April, the UK’s highest court ruled in the campaign group’s favour, agreeing that the definition of ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ under the Equality Act referred to biological sex.  

It was also ruled that Scottish ministers would pay a portion of For Women Scotland’s legal costs. The total costs incurred has been reported to be £417,000.  

The final amount the Scottish Government must pay is not known; however, it is believed to be between £250,000 and £400,000. 

Speaking at the Conservatives annual party conference yesterday, Marion Calder, a director at the women’s campaign group, said it had yet to receive the settlement.  

She said: “They [the Scottish Government] are not very good at settling their bills, by the way. We are still waiting for them to settle up from April.” 

Holyrood understands that the costs relating to the Supreme Court were lodged in August. 

According to the Daily Mail, after the event, Calder raised concerns that the government is “stalling” on making the payment, adding: “They just don’t want to settle in case we use the money to sue them again.” 

Reacting to Calder's comments on social media, author JK Rowling said: “SNP ministers have failed to pay their £250k bill, six months after the Supreme Court ruling.  

“The rumour is that they’re trying to stop ⁦@ForWomenScot taking further action against the government, but that plan has a rather large flaw. Me.” 

According to figures revealed by a Freedom of Information request the Scottish Government spent at least £374,000 on the case.   

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “There is an established process to be undertaken to agree the final costs for a legal case and these will be calculated and published in due course.”