Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer does not believe transgender women are women, his official spokesman has said.
In March 2022, when he was leader of the opposition, Sir Keir told the Times that “a woman is a female adult, and in addition to that transwomen are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law”.
Last week, the UK Supreme Court ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.
Asked if Sir Keir still believed that a transgender woman was a woman, the PM’s official spokesman said: “No, the Supreme Court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman.”
The spokesman added: “That is set out clearly by the court judgment.”
The ruling also makes it clear that a person who was born male but identifies as a woman does not have the right to use spaces or services designated as for women-only.
The spokesman stressed the PM had repeatedly said “a woman is an adult female” before the court judgment.
In 2023, Sir Keir told The Sunday Times that for “99.9%” of women “of course they haven’t got a penis”.
Later that year he told BBC Radio 5 Live “a woman is an adult female”.
In April 2024 he said Rosie Duffield, the former Labour MP, was right to say “only women have a cervix”, telling ITV: “Biologically, she of course is right about that.”
Asked whether Sir Keir would use a trans woman’s preferred pronouns, the spokesman declined to comment on “hypotheticals” but insisted the PM had “been clear that trans women should be treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else”.
Pressed over when the PM had changed his mind, his spokesman insisted the Labour government had been consistent that single sex spaces “are protected in law”.
He added that the Supreme Court had “brought clarity” on this.
Earlier on Monday Sir Keir welcomed the court decision, saying it had given “much-needed clarity” for those drawing up guidance.
In his first public comments since the ruling last week, the PM told ITV West Country: “We need to move and make sure that we now ensure that all guidance is in the right place according to that judgment.”
Asked if he does not believe a transwoman is a woman, he said: “A woman is an adult female, and the court has made that absolutely clear.”
