Anas Sarwar has said he would consider future gender recognition reforms if a new Bill was brought to Holyrood.
The Scottish Labour leader told the PA news agency he has been “clear” his party made “mistakes” during the passing of the initial legislation at Holyrood in 2022.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison said on Wednesday the Scottish Government has “no intentions” of bringing back a revised Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, but she added she would be “keen” to work with the UK Government on the issue.
She was speaking after the Scottish Government lost its Supreme Court battle against For Women Scotland.
Britain’s top judges ruled on Wednesday the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
The decision is likely to have far-reaching implications, including on single-sex spaces and who can access them.
Speaking during a visit to Alexander Dennis in Larbert on Thursday, Mr Sarwar welcomed the ruling and called on Scottish ministers to issue new guidance on single-sex spaces.
“The most urgent thing that John Swinney and this SNP Government has to do is issue clear guidance that ensures that all our public services and public bodies are complying with the Equality Act and upholding people’s rights,” he said.
“That is the most urgent thing they need to do.
“If the SNP Government does want to pursue the gender recognition reforms, then they have to come forward with what they think any changes to any future legislation needs to be, and we would consider them on their basis.
“What I think the priority for the SNP Government should be is rather than going down these routes, they should be, every waking minute of every day, they should be focused on clearing the NHS backlog, fixing our NHS, fixing our education system, ensuring our young people have the support and skills they need.
“That should be the relentless focus of our SNP Government, not looking for other issues to distract from their record.”
Mr Sarwar whipped his MSPs to vote for the gender reforms at Holyrood, which led to two frontbenchers leaving their posts.
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But he has since U-turned on his support for the Bill, and has also backed nurse Sandie Peggie in her employment tribunal against NHS Fife over having to share a female changing room with a trans doctor.
Mr Sarwar said there have been too many occasions where public bodies did not obey equality laws.
He added: “I’ve always said that we should protect single-sex spaces on the basis of all biological sex.
“There’s a clear ruling now from the Supreme Court. It’s for the Scottish Government to ensure that they have appropriate guidance and public bodies are following those rules.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.