JK Rowling accuses Labour of ‘abandoning’ women over transgender rights

Sir Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s track record on women’s rights, after writer JK Rowling claimed the party had “abandoned women”.

The Harry Potter author said she would struggle to vote for the Labour leader, saying she had a “poor opinion” of his character.

Ms Rowling has in the past been a donor to the Labour party.

Writing in The Times, Ms Rowling said: “As long as Labour remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time, I’ll struggle to support them."

The issue of transgender rights has long caused issues within the party.

In 2021, Sir Keir described comments by MP Rosie Duffield that only women have a cervix as “something that shouldn’t be said and were not right”.

In a televised debate on Thursday, the Labour leader agreed with one of his predecessors, Sir Tony Blair, saying “biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis”.

Asked about Ms Rowling's criticisms while on the campaign trail, Sir Keir told reporters: “I’m really proud of the long history of the Labour Party in making real progress on women’s rights, passing landmark legislation that has changed millions of lives.

“Now that battle is never over and we need to make further progress, which we will hope to do if we earn the trust and confidence of the voters at the General Election.

“As we do so, I’m also determined that one of the changes that we will bring about if we win the election is a reset of politics, to make sure that as we make progress, we do it in a context that brings people together, and all dialogue, all debate, is always done with respect for the views of everybody involved in those progress and in that discussion.”

Last week Ms Duffield said she had not attended election hustings while running in Canterbury because of “constant trolling”, and has spent £2,000 on bodyguards while campaigning.

Ms Rowling wrote in The Times: “Rosie has received literally no support from Starmer over the threats and abuse, some of which has originated from within the Labour Party itself, and has had a severe, measurable impact on her life.”

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