Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer does not believe transgender women are women.
It comes after last week’s UK Supreme Court ruling that defined a woman by biological sex under equalities law.
Back in March 2022, whilst he was leader of the opposition Starmer told the Times that “a woman is a female adult, and in addition to that, trans women are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law”.
However, when asked this week if he still believed this to be the case, the PM’s official spokesman said: “No, the Supreme Court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman.”
“That is set out clearly by the court judgment,” they added.
Additionally, the ruling set out that anyone who was born male but identifies as a woman does not have the right to use spaces or services designated as for women-only.
The spokesperson for the Prime Minister stressed that Sir Keir had repeatedly said “a woman is an adult female” before the court judgment.
The spokesperson declined to comment on whether the PM would use a trans woman’s preferred pronouns.
They insisted that the Labour government was consistent in that single sex spaces “are protected in law,” adding that the Supreme Court ruling “brought clarity” on this.
In his first public comments since the ruling, Starmer told ITV: “We need to move and make sure that we now ensure that all guidance is in the right place according to that judgment.”
“A woman is an adult female, and the court has made that absolutely clear.
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