Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a “clear, medically supervised process” for transitioning, rather than people self-identifying as transgender.
Her comments come days after she clashed with Sir Keir Starmer on the issue and accused Labour ministers of lying about support for female-only spaces following Sir Keir’s U-turn on his views about transgender women.
Sir Keir, who has previously said “trans women are women”, welcomed a Supreme Court ruling which confirmed the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
Mrs Badenoch told the Mail on Sunday she “wasn’t trying to be theatrical” with her response.
“I’ve always seen the danger in self-identification, partly because I’ve had my own run-ins with predatory men,” she said.
“The idea that anyone could just self-identify – that didn’t sit right with me.
“There has to be a clear, medically supervised process. Doctors involved, verifying real gender dysphoria. That’s what it’s always been about.”
She repeated her call for the Prime Minister to apologise to Independent MP Rosie Duffield, who resigned from the Labour Party in September 2024, accusing the Prime Minister of “hypocrisy” and pursuing “cruel” policies.
Relations between the Canterbury MP and the party leadership had long been strained, particularly over trans rights.
