Transitioning at 13 should be ‘taken seriously’, says Labour’s Nandy

‘We’ve got to get rid of the hurdles. We’re failing an entire generation of people’

‘Nandy is wooing woke Labour MPS while Keir desperately pretends he cares about women’s rights’

LABOUR was split on trans issues last night after Lisa Nandy suggested that children as young as 13 “should be “taken seriously” if they want to change their gender.

It comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer said he thought that 16 was too young to legally change gender.

In an interview with Times Radio yesterday, the shadow levelling-up secretary said 13-year-olds should be “taken seriously” if they want to selfidentify as another gender.

The Wigan MP said she wanted the Government to “get rid of the hurdles” that prevented a 13-year-old in her constituency from transitioning.

Last night, a Whitehall source said: “Nandy is wooing woke Labour MPS while Keir desperately pretends he cares about women’s rights – it’s time for Labour to come clean on where it stands on protecting women and girls.”

Ms Nandy said: “When I talk to teenagers in my constituency, I’ve got someone who’s been going through this process, since the age of 13, is now 19, and has only just been able to access treatment.

“We’ve got to get rid of the bureaucracy, get rid of the hurdles. We’re failing an entire generation of people.

“And I think when we look back on this moment, we’ll be thoroughly ashamed of the way that we treated some of the most marginalised people in this country. We’ve got to get serious about fixing the system.”

Ms Nandy said children in some cases should judged able to take their own decisions, citing the fact that children become criminally responsible at 12.

Asked whether she thought a 13-yearold should be able to self-certificate their gender, she said: “No. I think they deserve to be taken seriously. Eighteen is largely the age when we believe that young people become adults and can make decisions for themselves.

“But we do have inconsistencies in the law in this country. We believe, for example, that there are certain things that you can do at the age of 12, like the age of criminal responsibility.”

At the weekend, the Labour leader told the BBC’S Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I have concerns about the provision in Scotland, in particular the age reduction to 16 and, in particular, the rejection of our amendment in relation to the Equality Act.”

Pressed on whether he believed people are old enough at 16 to decide to change gender, he replied: “No, I don’t think you are.”

It also emerged yesterday that four Labour MPS attended a trans rights rally attended by a violent ex-criminal.

Nadia Whittome, Olivia Blake, Lloyd Russell-moyle and Angela Eagle attended the event on Wednesday.

Also pictured at the rally was Sarahjane Baker, who was Britain’s longestserving trans prisoner.

She spent 30 years in jail for attempting to murder another inmate, after being imprisoned for kidnapping and torturing her stepmother’s brother.

Last night, the four MPS said they only attended the rally for a few minutes and were not aware of Baker or her previous comments.

A Labour spokesman also insisted that Ms Nandy agreed with her leader that the age at which someone should be able to legally change gender should be kept at 18.