A leading SNP MP has dodged questions on whether trans people convicted of sex crimes should be allowed in female jails.
Alyn Smith, whose constituency includes the Cornton Vale prison, said he had “nothing to say” on the issue.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is under pressure after transgender double rapist Isla Bryson was remanded to a segregation unit at Cornton Vale near Stirling – Scotland’s lone women-only facility.
The rapes took place when she was a man known as Adam Graham.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) took the decision to move Bryson to another prison on Thursday after a public outcry.
Over the weekend, the row continued when reports emerged that Tiffany Scott, convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl before her transition, would be sent to a female unit.
On Sunday, Justice Secretary Keith Brown announced a pause on transgender prisoners with convictions for violence against women being moved to the female estate, along with an urgent review of the handling of the Bryson case.
Brown will make a statement at Holyrood today.
Smith, the MP for Stirling, was quizzed by LBC on the controversy outside the House of Commons.
He was asked: “Do you think trans people who are convicted of crimes like that should be in women’s jails?”
He responded: “I have nothing to say on that.”
Scottish Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton said: “It’s astonishing and deplorable that Alyn Smith can’t even bring himself to admit that it’s wrong for a rapist to be housed in a women’s prison.
“The fact that his constituency includes Cornton Vale, where Isla Bryson was initially sent, makes his cop-out response even worse.
“His apparent indifference to the safety of vulnerable women is shameful. Like many in the SNP, he appears to have a blind spot on what ought to be a simple issue of right and wrong.
“The public will rightly be appalled by how callous and out of touch he sounds.”
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