Chief political correspondent
EPAPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer does not think that transgender women are women, said his official spokesperson.
It comes after the British Supreme Court judged last week that a woman is defined by biological sex under equality law.
In March 2022, when he was the head of the opposition, Sir Keir told Times that “a woman is an adult, and in addition to this transwomen, women, and it is not only my opinion – it is in fact the law”.
When he was asked if Sir Keir still believed that a transgender woman was a woman, the official spokesperson for the PM said: “No, the judgment of the Supreme Court clearly indicated that by looking at the equality law, a woman is a biological woman.”
The spokesperson added: “This is clearly stated by the judgment of the court.”
The conservative chief, Kemi Badenoch, accused the government of having turned around in reaction to the judgment, accusing the Labor Ministers of needing the Supreme Court to tell them what to think about the issue.
Pressed when the Prime Minister had changed his mind earlier, his spokesperson insisted that the Labor government had found that sole sex spaces “are protected in law”.
The decision also clearly indicates that a person born of male but who identifies himself as a woman does not have the right to use spaces or services designated as for women only.
This means that transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (RCMP) can be excluded from unique spaces if “proportional”.
The spokesman stressed that the Prime Minister had repeatedly declared “a woman is an adult woman” before the trial of the court.
In 2023, Sir Keir told Sunday Times that for “99.9%of women”, of course, they had no penis “.
Later that year, he told BBC Radio 5 Live “a woman is an adult woman”.
And in April 2024, he said that Rosie Duffield, who left the party last year, was right to say that “only women have a cervix”, saying to ITV: “Biologically, she is of course right.”
Sir Keir had previously criticized Duffield’s opinions on trans people when she was a Labor deputy, saying in 2021 that she was “right” to say that only women had a cervix.
When they were asked if Sir Keir would now use the favorite pronouns of a trans woman, the spokesman refused to comment on the “hypotheses”, but insisted that the PM had “clearly been that trans women had to be treated with the same dignity and the same respect as anyone”.
Earlier Monday, Sir Keir welcomed the court’s decision, saying that she had given an “essential clarity” for those who developed advice.
In his first public comments since the decision last week, the PM told ITV West Country: “We have to move and make sure that we now make sure that all the advice is in the right place according to this judgment.”
When asked if he did not believe that a transmission was a woman, he said: “A woman is an adult woman, and the court said it absolutely clearly.”
During a debate on common goods on the decision on Monday, the Secretary of Education, Bridget Phillipson, welcomed the “additional clarity” of the decision and declared that the government would work to “protect the single sex spaces according to biological sex”.
But Badenoch attacked the previous record of labor ministers, accusing them of being “so desperate to jump on a train that they abandoned common sense”.
“I know what a woman is and I always,” she said. “The inhabitants of this country know what a woman is.
“We didn’t need the Supreme Court to tell us that – but this government did it.”
Badenoch added: “The idea that they have supported it from the start is for birds … They have never said that before, it’s a joint turn, but we welcome it.”
Earlier, Philipson was in a hurry if a trans woman had to use toilets for women or toilets for men.
“This should be on the basis of organic gender-which would apply at all levels to all provisions with one sex,” she told BBC Radio 4.
“But the EHRC (Committee on Equality and Human Rights) will organize additional advice and a legal code of practice because we must ensure that everyone has the capacity to access safe and appropriate services and respect their private life and dignity.”
Phillipson added that “many companies have evolved into a unisex supply or separate cabins that can be used by anyone.”
When asked if there was unity in the Labor Party on this issue, she answered: “I speak for the government on this question and I can be clear with you that we welcome the decision.”
Many labor deputies will be uncomfortable on the comments of Sir Keir and Phillipson.
For the moment, this seems to be confined to private frustration.
Certain deputies who campaigned to support Trans rights have underlined the commitments in the manifesto of the general work elections to introduce a “trans-inclusive prohibition of conversion practices” as well as “modernize, simplify and reform” the law of recognition of the sexes.
These are still labor party policies, as far as we know, but any sign of decline on this and this debate can again become tense in the ranks of work.
