Mick Hartley

There's Wes Streeting and his welcome volte face on trans issues after the Cass Report. On the other hand:

Angela Rayner has declined to apologise for endorsing a charter describing feminist organisations that raised fears about the treatment of trans children as “hate groups”.

When Ms Rayner stood to be the deputy Labour leader in 2020, she backed a trans rights charter that described bodies including Women’s Place UK, which campaigns for single-sex rape refuges for women, as “trans-exclusionist hate groups”.

In the wake of the Cass review into the treatment of children with gender issues, which concluded that much of the evidence for gender medicine was “shaky” and that drugs such as puberty blockers should be used with extreme caution, Ms Rayner faced calls to renounce the comments. However, her spokesman declined to apologise.

High-profile Labour figures have previously made remarks endorsing the views of trans activists, including Sir Keir Starmer, the party leader, who in 2022 said that “trans women are women”….

The charter signed by Ms Rayner called on signatories to “organise and fight against transphobic organisations such as Woman’s Place UK, LGB Alliance and other trans-exclusionist hate groups”.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Kate Barker, the charity’s chief executive, said: “We hope Angela Rayner will reflect on the Cass review and reconsider her opinion of LGB Alliance. It is not ‘hateful’ for an LGB charity to warn about ideologically-driven, unevidenced medical experiments on young people, most of whom are lesbian, gay or bisexual.

“There’s a much more profound issue at play, however, which is a culture where even senior politicians condemn their opponents as ‘hateful’ with zero evidence and zero engagement. It’s also one of the chief reasons this unprecedented medical scandal has been allowed to continue for so long.

“This year, LGB Alliance will once again apply to exhibit at Labour conference. We hope, in the light of Cass, we will finally be granted the opportunity to attend and engage in civilised and rational discussion.”

We shall see. Labour still has a long way to go on this. Labour politicians previously have been falling over themselves to follow Starmer down the trans rabbit hole.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins:

“Labour has spent the last 10 years trying to shut women up when it comes to this. They have been part of the ideology, the culture wars, creating an atmosphere of intimidation for anyone who dared to question this ideology.

“So it is a little bit rich of the Labour Party to be lecturing the rest of us now, having been so forthright in their support for this ideology in the past.”

She's right. See Rosie Duffield.