Starmer rowing back on self ID - what do we think?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

The Times is reporting in its live politics feed that KS has explicitly said Labour will not push for self ID without public backing. I know not everyone can access their content so here is a copied n pasted version: what do you think?

Sir Keir Starmer has shifted Labour’s position on transgender rights as he said the bitter rows over Scotland’s Gender Recognition Bill showed the party must consider public opinion on the issue.The leader of the Labour Party has previously insisted it was committed to updating the Gender Recognition Act to introduce self-identification for transgender people.However, in a significant shift in Labour’s policy, he said the backlash over the SNP’s gender reform bill had made him think again. The SNP passed legislation this year that would make it significantly easier for people to acquire a gender recognition certificate and reduced the minimum age for doing so to 16. The bill was blocked by the UK government.Starmer said: “I think that if we reflect on what’s happened in Scotland, the lesson I take from that is that if you’re going to make reforms, you have to carry the public with you.

“And I think that’s a very important message and I think that’s why it’s clear that in Scotland, there should be a reset of the situation.”

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Personally, at first I found previous pronouncements from Labour front bench inadequate and thought 'well if he can't define woman then nothing he says can be trusted'.

But now I am wondering if this is part of a phased turn-around.

[DrMarciaFieldstone]

I’m glad to hear it, but don’t trust him to stick to it.

He’s only saying it after seeing what happened to Nicola, it’s not what really he wants.

[Jonei]

It would take a lot more than that to trust him. He's not fit for purpose.

[CatNamedEaster]

But what does that mean "carry the public with you." Based on the opinions he will be hearing witjin the party, vs the amount of people not able to risk giving an opposing view, he will probably feel justified in saying that most people support self-ID.
Unless he specifically said it's off the table, TWAM and will be treated as such in law, then I still don't have anyone to vote for.

[Tinysoxxx]

Funny I always thought politicians were supposed to represent the people? It comes across as ‘we know better than you but we need to get elected so we will let you get away with this one’.

[Shmithecat2]

He's doing it for votes. Duplicitous tosser.

[FOJN]

If his position had changed in response to public opinion it wouldn't have taken him so long.

He saw what happened to Nicola Sturgeon and decided it would harm his chances of winning the next election if he was repeatedly being asked to define what a woman was and he's he's giving the TRA's time to get it out of their system before hand.

Why has it been such a pressing issue for the Labour party for so long and now all of a sudden it isn't, have they stopped caring about the most marginalised and oppressed or didn't they really believe that narrative to begin with?

[MarshaBradyo]

@Jonei

It would take a lot more than that to trust him. He's not fit for purpose.

This.

[Toseland]

Tell you what Starmer, i'm not voting Labour until 'Repeal the GRA' is in your manifesto.

[happydappy2]

The Gender Recognition Act needs to be repealed, urgently. Why should ANY male have legal recognition as a woman?

[RosaBonheur]

@FOJN

If his position had changed in response to public opinion it wouldn't have taken him so long.

He saw what happened to Nicola Sturgeon and decided it would harm his chances of winning the next election if he was repeatedly being asked to define what a woman was and he's he's giving the TRA's time to get it out of their system before hand.

Why has it been such a pressing issue for the Labour party for so long and now all of a sudden it isn't, have they stopped caring about the most marginalised and oppressed or didn't they really believe that narrative to begin with?

Why has it ever been a pressing issue for the Labour Party?

We've had a pandemic, Brexit, a cost of living crisis and a decade plus of Tory cuts. Why is this even on their radar?

[RosaBonheur]

@Toseland

Tell you what Starmer, i'm not voting Labour until 'Repeal the GRA' is in your manifesto.

This.

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

@FOJN My own suspicion is that no, they never really cared about 'the most oppressed' etc beyond a small band of hardliners, and that LP leadership effectively outsourced their thinking to that group. I think many haven't really thought it through properly, hence e.g. Rayner's recent uncharacteristic stumbling when pushed in that Sunday Times interview.

I suspect there is a mixture of less-hardline folk in the LP leadership actually waking up thanks to Bryson/ Sturgeon, and others who continue to believe but realise it might turn into a vote-loser.

Especially given media comments in last year from Sunak, Raab, Badenoch who are (comparatively) unembarrassed about the whole thing.

[OneLongSmorgasbord]

I don't believe a word he says. The party is still full of TRAs.
He's saying this because he saw the SNP/Nicola Sturgeon debacle and can see that it could cause trouble.
Bear in mind that when he says he'll get public backing, he will talk to specially selected trans groups and no one else that might be affected.

[DrMarciaFieldstone]

@RosaBonheur

Why has it ever been a pressing issue for the Labour Party?

We've had a pandemic, Brexit, a cost of living crisis and a decade plus of Tory cuts. Why is this even on their radar?

It’s the number one voting issue for me.

[Mimosa08]

He can fuck off

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

@DrMarciaFieldstone I suspect that pp is thinking more along the lines of 'given the country is a complete shitshow why have LP been prioritising reforming GRA' rather than that women shouldn't worry about it.

[amillionrosepetals]

@Shmithecat2

He's doing it for votes. Duplicitous tosser.

Well said.

[MarshaBradyo]

He wants to go ahead but looking at SNP is now scared of losing votes

Neither qualities are good and TRAs are still embedded in his party

[TheHouseElf]

Doing it just for women's vote, but he won't be getting mine. Won't vote for anyone who believes any BS that goes against biological facts, and isn't prepared to say it so.

[Beowulfa]

I think he's weak and duplicitous and only "rowing back" half a splash in order not to look quite as stupid as Sturgeon whilst hoping those awful women shut up and it all goes away.

[LizzieSiddal]

I’m glad to hear this statement, I suspect the Scottish rapist in a woman’s prison has made them really think for the first time, what their policy would actually mean.

I now want to hear all the front bench answer the question “What is a woman?”

[SquirrelSoShiny]

@TheHouseElf

Doing it just for women's vote, but he won't be getting mine. Won't vote for anyone who believes any BS that goes against biological facts, and isn't prepared to say it so.

This x 1000

Labour is a lost cause now

[DrMarciaFieldstone]

Yes, see this now, thanks!

[ExiledElsie]

Definitely not enough to get my vote yet. But I think he must now be aware that the conformity within the party is not representative of normal people. Scotland has shown that.