Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has denied that he tried to “sneak” out his party’s U-turn on its pledge to allow self-identification for transgender people.
Shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds wrote in The Guardian last week that a Labour government would “modernise, simplify and reform” the gender recognition process.
It marks a change in position from the party, which had previously pledged to allow transgender people to change their gender without undergoing a medical process.
The new stance also exposes a fresh split between Scottish Labour, which has backed self-ID for trans people, and the central party.
But speaking during a listener phone-in on BBC Radio 5Live, Sir Keir denied that Labour had tried to “sneak it out” by announcing the change in The Guardian rather than by a press release because it “struggles” with the topic.
He also dismissed a suggestion that he would “be stumped over the question” of how to define a woman.
“Firstly, a woman is an adult female so let’s clear that one up,” he said.
Sir Keir continued that the new policy was struck at Labour’s National Policy Forum on Saturday and that the meeting “gave us the chance to reflect on what happened in Scotland recently in relation to gender recognition”.
The Scottish Parliament passed a law last year allowing people in the country to self-ID when it came to gender, but it was ultimately struck down by the Government in Westminster.
“We’ve set out that we want to modernise the process, get rid of some of the indignities in the process, keep it a medical process,” Sir Keir said.
“We’ve always said, I’ve continued to say, and Sunday, when we completed our policy forum, allowed us to be clear that there should be safe places, safe spaces, for women, particularly in relation to violence against women and girls.”
Sir Keir was pressed to name his specific concerns about why safe spaces are needed: “I think it’s more that biological women who have been subjected to violence against women and girls want a safe space where they can feel safe.”
Sir Keir also touched during the phone-in on another developing split in the Labour Party surrounding the future of its environmental policies.
Both Labour and the Government have come under pressure after the Conservatives narrowly held onto Uxbridge in last week’s by-election, with many blaming Labour’s poor showing on opposition to the expansion ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez).
He denied that Labour was rolling back on its green pledges in the wake of the defeat, and agreed that he’d had a “frank exchange of views” with London Mayor Sadiq Khan about the future of Ulez.
Asked whether he supported the Ulez expansion, he said: “We can’t pretend that this is a simple political decision. You can’t just say yes or no, without regard to the legal context.
“If the law requires a motion to be taken, it is not in the gift of the Mayor to say I’m simply not going to do it.
“He’s got to do something. What I’m working with him on and ask him to reflect on his in this scheme is the more that we can do to help people.”
He added that it was a “mistake” for the Government to hint it would back off on some of its key net zero pledges and that “we’re not going to back off as a Labour government”.
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