Tories ignite culture war with Labour over ‘shutting women up’

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A cupboard minister has accused Labour of spending a decade attempting to “shut women up”, because the Conservatives reignited a political culture war over trans points.

Victoria Atkins, the well being secretary, additionally claimed the opposition had created an “atmosphere of intimidation” over the problem after a landmark report into NHS gender companies revealed earlier this week.

Her feedback got here after the shadow well being secretary Wes Streeting mentioned his former employer Stonewall had been mistaken to argue that “trans women are women, get over it”.

His shadow cupboard colleague Louise Haigh rejected the declare Labour had tried to close down debate, saying there had been “bad faith” actors on all sides.

Rishi Sunak was closely criticised final month for refusing to apologise to the household of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey after making a joke about transgender folks whereas her mom was visiting parliament.

The political row was rekindled as JK Rowling additionally advised Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson to “save their apologies” after the talk on trans points was blown open once more with the publication of the Cass report.

The assessment warned kids have been let down by a scarcity of analysis and proof on the usage of puberty blockers and hormones. Mr Streeting known as the findings “scandalous”.

In an interview with Sky News, Ms Atkins hit again saying: “Labour has spent the last ten years trying to shut women up when it comes to this. They have been part of the ideology, the culture wars, creating an atmosphere of intimidation for anyone who dared to question this ideology.

“So it is a little bit rich of the Labour Party to be lecturing the rest of us now having been so forthright in their support for this ideology in the past.”

But Ms Haigh denied that Labour had shut down debate. “I don’t think that has been writ large in the Labour Party… There have been bad faith actors on all sides,” she mentioned.

Mr Streeting had been proper to “hold his hand up” and say language like “get over it” was mistaken, she added.

Earlier this week Mr Streeting advised The Sun: “To the extent that – and I say this with some self-criticism and reflection – if you’d asked me a few years ago, on this topic, I would have said trans men are men, trans women are women. Some people are trans, get over it. Let’s move on. This is all blown out of proportion.”

“And now I sort of sit and reflect and think actually, there are lots of complexities.”

It comes because the Tories face a doubtlessly devastating basic election defeat, after a sequence of bombshell opinion polls recommended Labour will win a landslide victory.

Mr Sunak’s woes additional deepened on Thursday when Boris Johnson described the prime minister’s flagship smoking ban coverage as “nuts” and “mad”.

And the prime minister struggled to implement self-discipline inside his personal occasion when one among his MPs endorsed former Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson, who has defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK occasion, on the election.

Meanwhile, Ms Rowling took purpose on the former stars of her most well-known creation telling them to “save their apologies”.

Radcliffe, who performed Harry Potter, has beforehand apologised “for the pain” Rowling’s feedback on the problem have prompted Harry Potter followers.

Ms Watson appeared to make a dig at Rowling on the Baftas in 2022 and wrote: “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”

It comes as a brand new survey revealed the bottom stage of happiness in a decade amongst younger transgender folks in Scotland, amid what a charity known as “unacceptable” stage of intolerance.

A report by LGBT Youth Scotland confirmed happiness among the many younger transgender neighborhood has halved within the ten years between 2012 and 2022, from 59 per cent to twenty-eight pr cent.

The charity, which surveyed greater than 1,200 folks aged between 13 and 25, discovered that 40 per cent felt unsafe utilizing public transport, whereas one in 5 had left training due to transphobia.

Dr Mhairi Crawford, chief govt of LGBT Youth Scotland, known as for extra safety and help for transgender younger folks to guard their wellbeing.