SCOTTISH Labour have fallen completely silent on their support for NHS nurse Sandie Peggie after a series of her racist and transphobic remarks became public.
Anas Sarwar, his deputy Jackie Baillie, and other parliamentarians in the group had given their full backing to Peggie amid an ongoing employment tribunal, sparked after the nurse was suspended following allegations of bullying and harassment against trans doctor Beth Upton.
Peggie had taken issue with sharing a changing room with Upton at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023 – and later lodged a complaint against NHS [[Fife]] citing harassment related to a protected belief.
On Monday, the tribunal heard that Peggie had made a series of transphobic and racist remarks, including referring to Upton as "weirdo", "freak" and "it".
It further heard that she had shared a series of racist jokes about Pakistani people and Muslims to a group chat, including mocking the victims of floods that killed thousands in 2022, saying the country would look like a “bowl of coco pops”.
Other so-called jokes shared by Peggie to a group chat said “I bet little Mohammed isn’t having to walk 3 miles to fetch water now” and “the Queen … wanted to mention that Britain has plenty of spare P****”. She was also accused of using the racist slur “Ch***”.
Scottish Labour politicians including MP Melanie Ward, MSP Claire Baker, and MSP Carol Mochan had all spoken out in support of Peggie in the seven days before her racist comments were made public.
All three failed to respond when approached about Monday’s tribunal hearing.
This morning @clairebakermsp & I met with Sandie Peggie, who I have spoken in support of in Parliament. Sandie has 30 years’ service as a nurse at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy & should never have had to take legal action to uphold her right to change in a single sex space. pic.twitter.com/pPRNAUe3OY
— Melanie Ward MP (@melanie_ward) July 21, 2025
Sarwar and Baillie had told the Holyrood Sources podcast earlier in 2025 that they supported Peggie in the tribunal – at the same time as they U-turned on support for gender reform.
Neither their Scottish Labour nor UK Labour responded to repeated requests for comment on Monday’s tribunal hearing.
The Scottish Conservatives, who have equally been vocal in their support of Peggie, also failed to respond when approached.
Jess O'Thomson, the community outreach lead for Good Law Project, said: "The comments alleged to have been made by Ms Peggie are plainly obscene.
"These Labour politicians should consider how they have ended up championing the side of bigotry against vulnerable minorities.
“It is surely a shameful position they have found themselves in."
Edinburgh-based trans rights activist Tristan Grayford said that [[Scottish Labour]] politicians appeared to believe that “being transphobic is more important than standing up to racism”.
“I think what we're seeing from Scottish Labour politicians is atrocious behaviour,” he said.
“They're basically attacking our NHS for daring to have any kind of limits on whether or not someone can be unpleasant to a colleague based on transphobia.”
Grayford said the issues extended beyond politicians, telling The National: “Yes, the racism is horrific, but the fact that we as a society, and especially a lot of our media, treat that kind of language to trans people as just normal, as something that should be defended and even promoted, is a horrifying indictment of how normalised transphobia has become in our media in a way that they seem capable of seeing that racism shouldn't be.”
“This is the person Scottish Labour is lining up to defend, and who the entire [gender critical] movement has turned into their hero,” the post read.
Sex Matters, the anti-trans campaign group supporting Peggie in her legal case, have moved to distance themselves from her comments on race.
Maya Forstater, the group’s chief executive, said: "Obviously, Sex Matters in no way defends the sentiments regarding the victims of the Pakistan floods, or remarks about a mosque attributed to her by a witness this afternoon.
“The content of private group messages, however unpleasant, do not change the facts at the heart of this case: that a female nurse is seeking justice after suffering discrimination and harassment because she didn’t want to share changing facilities with a male doctor."
Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, a prominent gender-critical activist, was pictured shaking Peggie’s hand as she arrived at the tribunal on Tuesday.
Giving evidence, Peggie said she did not remember making the comments about the mosque and posting it bacon. However, she did say of the mosque: "I can't say I didn't like it, but I had a fear of it being built."
She admitted sending “offensive” jokes about the deaths of Pakistani people in floods, but said it was “dark humour”.
Peggie further admitted using the words “P***” and “Ch***”, but said that the Pakistani and Chinese people she knew had not taken offence.
The tribunal continues.
