Keir Starmer insists a woman is an ‘adult female’ as he says gender self-identification is not ‘right way forward’
26 July 2023, 22:24 | Updated: 27 July 2023, 01:47
The Labour leader has said that he believes a woman is an ‘adult female’ as he was quizzed on gender during a recent interview.
At Labour’s national policy forum over the weekend, the party announced it was ditching plans which would allow people to change their legal gender via self-identification (without a medical diagnosis).
Speaking during a phone-in interview on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer expanded on Labour's stance following the policy change.
He addressed the division caused by the Scottish government’s self-identification law earlier this year, which was blocked by Rishi Sunak’s government, as he argued it was the wrong step forward in Scotland.
“We don't agree, we don’t think that self-identification is the right way forward,” Starmer said of Scottish Labour’s decision to report the reform.
He also added that Labour would “keep it a medical process” to make any gender changes, but that he wanted to “modernise” the Gender Recognition Act by getting “rid of some of the indignities in the process”.
The Labour leader was also quizzed on his view of what a woman is during the phone-in interview.
“Firstly, a woman is an adult female, so let’s clear that one up,” he said on BBC Radio 5.
Sir Keir also said he feels “very strongly” about safe spaces for women, adding that the discussion of Labour policies has “allowed us to be clear that there should be safe places, safe spaces for women, particularly in relation to violence against women”.
“Biological women who have been subjected to violence against women and girls want a safe space where they can feel . . . that they are properly supported and protected.”
The discussion of gender is a sensitive topic for political parties, as it raises questions around the ‘trans debate’, which is a publicly divisive subject.
It comes after the Labour leader said earlier this year that 99.9% of women “of course haven’t got a penis”.
He added at the time that a “very small number” of people identify as a different gender to the one they were assigned at birth.
