Sir Keir Starmer has refused to apologise to MP Rosie Duffield over historic disagreements on trans issues, instead accusing Kemi Badenoch of using the topic as a “political football”.
Ms Duffield, who now sits as an independent after quitting the Labour Party, has been accused of transphobia for her push to protect single-sex spaces and has previously claimed the prime minister has “a problem with women”.
At Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), the Tory leader and the prime minister took swipes at each other over last week’s Supreme Court judgement on biological sex, with Mrs Badenoch accusing Sir Keir of “hounding [Ms Duffield] out of the Labour Party”.
The judgment, which states that the definition of a woman in equality law is based on biological sex, means trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces.
Asked by the Tory leader whether he would apologise to the MP for Canterbury, Sir Keir said: “I always approach this on the basis that we should treat everyone with dignity and respect, whatever their different views, and I will continue to do so”.
He added: “When we lose sight of that approach and make it a political football, as happened in the past, we end up with the spectacle of a decent man – and he was a decent man – the previous prime minister diminishing himself at this dispatch box by making trans jokes whilst the mother of murdered trans teenager watched from the public gallery just up there.
“That will never be my approach. My approach will be to support the ruling to protect single-sex spaces and treat everybody with dignity and respect, and I believe there’s a consensus in this house and the country for that approach.”
Rishi Sunak faced criticism last year for making a joke about Sir Keir’s position on trans issues at PMQs while the mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey was watching from the House of Commons gallery.
Mrs Badenoch has launched a series of political attacks on the prime minister in the days since the ruling, accusing Sir Keir of “hiding behind” the judgement.
Wednesday’s heated PMQs back and forth came a day after Sir Keir said he no longer believes trans women are women in the wake of the ruling.
The prime minister has since said the government’s approach is to “protect single sex spaces based on biological sex” and “ensure that trans people are treated with respect and… dignity in their everyday lives”.
“I do think this is the time now to lower the temperature, to move forward and to conduct this debate with the care and compassion that it deserves”, he added.
However, Sir Keir has been accused of putting trans people at risk after his spokesperson confirmed the PM believes trans women should use male toilets, while trans men should use female bathrooms.
Jess Barnard, a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) told The Independent on Wednesday that Sir Keir should be held “personally responsible” if trans women are assaulted in male bathrooms.
The prime minister is either going to “put trans people in dangerous situations where they are vulnerable or force them out of society”, she warned. “Both of which are an appalling state for us to be in.”
And last week, transgender campaigner Jaxon Feeley warned that single-sex spaces for women will become more dangerous, not safer, after the Supreme Court ruling.
The campaigner, who transitioned from female to male while serving as a prison officer in the UK, said: “If I walk into a [women’s] toilet now and say: ‘Well, I was assigned female at birth’, people are not going to be happy about that. I feel like people are going to be quite intimidated by that.
“It not only obviously puts [biological women] in a difficult situation, but it also allows any [cisgender] man to walk into any so-called official single-sex space now and say, ‘Well, I was assigned female at birth.’ How are you policing that? You can’t police that.”
