Piers Morgan has slammed Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome for her "dreadful view of debating" in an exchange on Twitter.
Ms Whittome, the youngest MP in Parliament who represents the east of the city for Labour, had written for the Independent voicing her concerns over trans rights and equality.
Her opinion piece came after a Stonewall (an LGBT rights charity) report showed 41 percent of trans people had experienced hate crime in the past year, and the potential shelving of amendments to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) which would streamline legal recognition for someone's gender.
She says "unsubstantiated claims" came about that the GRA would create a loophole for violent men to pose as women, despite statistics showing otherwise.
Therefore, Ms Whittome says this argument harks back to a time when "in the past there were debates on allowing openly gay and bisexual people in the military", which she says are now very much seen as homophobic and unfounded.
Tweeting the story, Ms Whittome said: "Every frontier in the struggle for equality and liberation has only ever been won by walking through fire. Sadly, it seems the fight for trans rights and equality will be no different.
"We must not fetishise debate as though debate is itself an innocuous, neutral act. The very act of debate in these cases is an effective rollback of assumed equality and a foot in the door for doubt and hatred."
However, the very vocal and outspoken journalist and presenter Piers Morgan replied to her on Twitter, having disagreed with her statements on debating.
He said: "Good grief. How can a democratically elected MP have such a dreadful view of debating? Even by woke standards this is absurd."
Replying to Mr Morgan, she took a stab back adding: "In the past there were ‘debates’ on allowing openly gay and bisexual people in the military.
"I clearly mention debate in this context: creating a debate about people’s fundamental rights or equal status is a hostile act. Don’t spin it to stoke a right wing feeding frenzy."
In her Independent piece, Ms Whittome said she believes opinions expressed about the safety of cisgender women will be viewed in the same light as gay and bisexual people in the military.
The exchange finished with Mr Morgan adding: "How were those rules changed without debate? How is ANYTHING ever changed without debate?
"What do you think goes on in Parliament all day every day? (clue: debates) Why do you assume only right wing people find this kind of illiberal woke nonsense insane?"
To clarify her tweets, Ms Whittome added: "Dialogue is important and I fiercely defend free speech. We must also realise that initiating a ‘debate’ about someone’s fundamental right and equal standing is not a neutral act. Our words have a real impact on real people – in this case an already marginalised group. Discussions must be conducted in good faith, honouring trans people’s lived realities and respecting their identity and rights.”
