Wes Streeting has said that women concerned about trans issues should not have been “written off as bigots”.
The Shadow Health Secretary conceded that he should have spoken up sooner in defence of women who want to protect women-only spaces and those who are worried about their erasure from NHS documents.
He said he began to reflect on these issues when he saw the attacks on JK Rowling and Rosie Duffield, his fellow Labour MP, who have both been accused of transphobia.
Streeting, a former senior Stonewall official, said that the treatment of many women had been “wrong and counterproductive and not a way to handle such a sensitive issue”.
Wes Streeting has said that women concerned about trans issues should not have been ‘written off as bigots’
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He told the Hay Festival: “I think there is absolutely a fair challenge and criticism to say that gender-critical feminists and women who have been raising concerns about women-only spaces or erasure from NHS documents and those sorts of issues were written off as bigots and prejudiced and people sort of shut them down.”
“Absolutely I would agree with that challenge and say that was wrong, counter-productive and not the way to handle such a sensitive issue,” Streeting added.
Asked about Rosie Bindel, a feminist who was no-platformed due to her “transphobic views”, he said that he had not been involved in the decision.
However, he added: “I absolutely take the challenge that a number of us could and should have spoken up sooner.”
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Streeting said he began to reflect on these issues when he saw the attacks on JK Rowling online
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“I hope there will be some goodwill coming in from both directions because I genuinely think there is a way through this really toxic conversation where trans people can live with dignity, respect and inclusion, and women can have their sex-based rights protected. I feel optimistic and confident.”
Streeting, who is the most senior openly gay Labour Politician, said that while there are “tensions between the sex-based rights of women and rights for trans women” he was confident that there “is a way though in what is really a toxic conversation where trans people can live with dignity and respect and inclusion, and women can have their sex-based rights protected”.
He said that he believes there are many similarities between “lots of similarities between what we experienced as gay people, in terms of prejudice and hate crime and discrimination” and what trans people experience.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Streeting blasted the NHS for its “truly shameful” behaviour that has come to light amid the infected blood scandal.
He also said that if Labour wins on July 4, then they will tackle the “horrific levels of sexual harassment and violence” of staff across the country.
Streeting is the most senior openly gay Labour Politician
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“If you are a patient harassing female members of staff, do not expect to be able to access the NHS. And if you work in the NHS don’t think that just because there is a staffing crisis that we will tolerate handsy consultants or other staff who misbehave. This is a place of safety for people to work,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, Streeting denied that taxes will have to be raised across the board to fund its promises on funding its pledges to the NHS, something Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves ruled out today.
Asked by GB News if taxes will be increased, Streeting told GB News: “No. In fact, that’s the approach that the Conservatives have taken, which is why we’ve got this enormous tax burden that’s hitting people on lower and middle incomes.
“That’s not going to be Labour’s approach and when you look at how we’re paying for our policies, what we are doing is raising money in a fairer way than the Conservatives, because we know that the tax burden on working people is too high.
“We’re not going to pick the pockets of working people in the way that the Tories have. But when we do need to raise money for good Labour policies, it’s going after people who’ve got broad shoulders and who aren’t paying their fair share and that will be Labour’s approach if we win the next General Election.”
