Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey was criticised today after he said some women could ‘clearly’ have a penis, in a debate over trans rights.
Sir Ed was asked for his views on the issue as he took part in a wide-ranging radio phone-in this morning.
A caller named Mary asked him on LBC to explain ‘what is a woman’, saying she was a tactical voter asking ‘on behalf of 51 per cent of the population’.
Sir Ed told her ‘the vast majority of people whose biological sex is a woman when they were birth (sic), they feel they’re women … but there’s this very small number of people who don’t feel like that’.
Presenter Nick Ferrari then twice asked: ‘Can a woman have a penis?’ Eventually, the Lib Dem leader replied: ‘Well, quite clearly.’
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: ‘Once again we see how out of touch the Liberal Democrats are when faced with basic questions of common sense. It just goes to show the danger that a coalition with Labour would bring, with what is effectively the anti-women alliance.’
A caller asked Sir Ed Davey on LBC to explain ‘what is a woman’, saying she was a tactical voter – a group which could help the Lib Dems pick off Tory seats at the next general election
Sir Ed, pictured with his wife Emily Gasson at a state banquet in Buckingham Palace last year
Here’s what other party leaders have said on trans rights
Sir Keir Starmer
The Labour leader has suggested 1 in 1,000 women have a penis.
‘For 99.9 per cent of women, it is completely biological… and of course they haven’t got a penis,’ Sir Keir told the Sunday Times last month.
He subsequently refused to clarify his comments but insisted he was not trying to ‘make a particular statistical point’.
It came after Sir Keir had last year been reluctant to say whether a woman can have male genitals and previously said it was ‘not right’ to say only women have a cervix.
Rishi Sunak
The PM has declared that no women have penises.
Mr Sunak was last month quizzed about Sir Keir’s suggestion that 99.9 cent of women do not have penises.
Asked whether the figure was actually 100 per cent, the PM replied: ‘Yeah, of course.’
He added: ‘As a general operating principal for me biological sex is vitally fundamentally important in these questions. We can’t forget that.’
Humza Yousaf
The SNP leader voted to lower the age at which Scottish teens can legally alter their gender from 18 to 16. And he pledged to fight Rishi Sunak’s decision to veto the move in the courts.
‘I made it clear during the election contest that my first principle was to challenge what I consider to be an undemocratic veto over legislation that was passed by a majority of the Scottish Parliament,’ he said last month.
Tactical voters – who back the party most likely to evict a Tory MP – are a group which could help the Lib Dems pick off Conservative seats at the next general election, raising the possibility of them doing as coalition deal with Labour.
Sir Ed told the caller: ‘The truth is, Mary, the vast majority of people whose biological sex is a woman when they were birth, they feel they’re women.
‘So… they feel their gender the same as at birth. But there’s this very small number of people who don’t feel like that. And the law has recognised them for over 20 years now.
‘So this is not a new issue. I know sometimes it seems it, but the law has dealt with this in the right way.
‘The Equality Act is there to allow there to be single sex spaces so people can have those single sex spaces.
‘And what I want to do is answer your question directly as I’ve done, Mary, but also to try and take some of the heat out of the question, because there’s a small number of people who actually… they have a tough time.
‘They’re harassed, discriminated against, real serious mental health problems.
‘And I think we need to manage this and think about it and debate it with a bit more maturity and a bit more compassion.’
Sir Ed, a 57-year-old married father of two, is bidding to snatch seats off the Conservatives in the so-called ‘Blue Wall’ at the next general election.
He and the Lib Dems have been buoyed by their success at this month’s local elections, in which they gained more than 400 extra council seats in England.
Sir Ed was quizzed on LBC after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer last month sought to clarify his stance on transgender issues by stating that 99.9 per cent of women ‘of course haven’t got a penis’.
The Labour leader is under pressure to define his party’s position on gender identity following the fierce row in Scotland over legal reforms.
He has been warned by party strategists that he risks losing the next general election if he continues to face questions about how to define a woman.
The Prime Minister last month drew a gender dividing line with Sir Keir as he declared that no women have penises.
In an interview with the ConservativeHome website, Rishi Sunak was asked what he thought about Sir Keir’s suggestion that 99.9 cent of women do not have penises.
Quizzed on whether the figure was actually 100 per cent, the PM replied: ‘Of course.’
He went on: ‘We should always have compassion and understanding and tolerance for those who are thinking about changing their gender. Of course we should.
‘But when it comes to these issues of protecting women’s rights, women’s spaces, I think the issue of biological sex is fundamentally important when we think about those questions.
‘As a general operating principal for me biological sex is vitally, fundamentally important in these questions. We can’t forget that.’
The Lib Dems have already backed a controversial trans law in Scotland.
In February Sir Ed used a message for LGBT History Month to attack Mr Sunak for blocking the SNP’s Gender Recognition reform Bill, which would lower the age at which teens can legally alter their gender from 18 to 16.
The Lib Dems in Scotland supported the change but Mr Sunak used devolved powers to block it from becoming law. The SNP is planning to challenge the decision in the courts.
‘Liberal Democrats will keep standing up for trans rights – whether it’s opposing Conservative assaults like this or ensuring they do ban conversion therapy as they promised, without further delay,’ Sir Ed said at the time.
