Wes Streeting says Tories weaponising trans issues to win votes and score cheap headlines

[IwantToRetire]

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said the prime minister was using equality “as a ‘wedge issue’ in an ugly culture war”.

Mr Streeting said: “We have a government, and a prime minister, who see an opportunity to use LGBT+ equality as a ‘wedge issue’ in an ugly culture war. Meanwhile, hate crimes against LGBT+ people are on the rise once again.

“The issues affecting young LGBT+ people today, and trans people in particular, are more complicated than when I was coming out.

“They demand leadership that handles them with care and sensitivity, rather than as a punchline or a way to score cheap headlines.”

Mr Streeting also warned that a hard-won consensus on LGBT+ equality “looks fragile at best”.

A spokesperson for the campaign group Conservatives for Women accused Mr Streeting of being “disingenuous”.

They said: “Women’s rights and child safeguarding are not part of an ‘ugly culture war’ and it is disingenuous to frame this issue that way. The prime minister has been very clear that he is fully supportive of maintaining women’s rights to single-sex services, spaces and sports, and we are grateful he can define the word ‘woman’ – something many of his opponents struggle with.”

Independent article reprinted in full by yahoo https://uk.news.yahoo.com/furious-row-rishi-sunak-accused-182202105.html Paragraphs above are ones I selected.

Interesting that someone in Labour is admitting that the Tories challenging the trans narrative is a vote winner. Does that mean Labour recognises that supporting women's rights is a vote winner?! And they would rather lose than support women's rights ... ?

He’s using “cynical” and “culture war” to remind voters about other topics, and the media narrative associated with them, such as Brexit and immigration.

It’s similar to when certain posters arrive on here and start with “far right”, “fascist” and “racist” accusations. It’s basically a ‘don’t listen to those dreadful people’ pitch.

Its purpose is to distract people from engaging with the actual questions that need to be addressed such as whether women have the right to single sex, female-only spaces with no males in them whatever their identity, and why breast amputation surgery for teenage girls / healthy women under 25 is a procedure which is now being performed.

It’s also an avoidance tactic for him personally, so he doesn’t have to fulfil the responsibilities of an elected representative and engage honestly, openly and coherently with those questions. He’s pushing this “they are only having this discussion because they are acting in bad faith” line, so that he can portray himself as nobly above the fray when persistently refusing to answer questions about it.

Someone else has mentioned Labour HQ not publicly supporting the strikes. It’s interesting to note that Streeting doesn’t appear to have concerns that deploying this line of argument might cause him any career discomfort with HQ. I wonder if he’d be equally comfortable initiating a media debate about the Tories’ v Labour’s position on the strikes?

He is right about the electoral aspect though - Conservatives for Women wouldn’t have been able to make such headway on this issue within the Tory party, as demonstrated in the number of well informed Tory MPs at the 12th June debate, if they hadn’t been able to demonstrate that it’s more of a vote winner than a vote loser.

He's right. The Tories were proposing selfID, they're pathetically shaming their own policy. Streeting will likely be Health Secretary soon, and he's got some sense on this issue.

He's not wrong is he. As if The Tories have ever given a fuck about women. Surely everyone can see this.

It’s also an avoidance tactic for him personally, so he doesn’t have to fulfil the responsibilities of an elected representative and engage honestly, openly and coherently with those questions

Labour are expending more energy on complaining and trying to look the victim and building diversion tactics than actually just an answering basic questions. They could be straight up and respond.

They must be stuck

@SunnyEgg I think you're right. Labour are stuck on this - if they back track, all the TRA's will shout back at them and all the statements by Nandy, Lammy, Streeting etc and Starmer himself about TWAW and men in womens prisons etc will look unwise

Political parties are broad groupings of differnt people. They are not a monolithic entity except to tribal mind-sets.

Theer are quite a number of Tories who clearly do care about the issue and what's more they understand it, and have articulated it - which is more than can be said for the opposition benches.

Labour's current team are pretty good at politics too - just ask Boris Johnson.

Wes's comment is calculated and it's working, if the comments here are anything to go by.

The Conservatives are doing what every politician has done since the dawn of time - locating your opponents' weak spots and probing. If Streeting doesn't like it then he's in the wrong job.

As for his party - Labour could sort this out any time they choose.

Bloody Stupid Johnson torpedoed himself and got ditched because he was more of a liability to the Tories than the asset he had previously been.

Yeh Starmer didn’t do anything here, the media got partygate happy. It’s a bit much to credit it to him.

Not sure why pp thinks comments show Labour is convincing people only a few diehard Labour supporters are posting they agree.

As for his party - Labour could sort this out any time they choose.

This is an excellent point. They can choose from some opportunities:

• upcoming trans schools guidance, supposedly out very soon
• upcoming RSE guidance, supposedly by the end of the year. Relevant as this is where parents have become concerned - via inappropriate materials on trans (and other) matters being peddled to their kids which they're forbidden from seeing, which may well be fuelling a social contagion and conveyor belt to GIDS, where lifelong dependency on medication and surgical intervention awaits
• Cass Review, again supposedly by the end of the year
• or - TODAY! - Miriam Cates's Bill re RSE materials:

Miriam Cates to introduce a “sex education transparency” Private Members’ Bill on Mon 26 June www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4835288-miriam-cates-to-introduce-a-sex-education-transparency-private-members-bill-on-mon-26-june

Wes Streeting lies about another group's non-existent culture war by engaging in a culture war. You couldn't make it up! Nobody would be talking about this non-issue if plonkers like him weren't encouraging the overreach. He was the one up to his neck in Lily Madigan's witch hunt lists though. And there have been threads on here saying he's reasonable! This is why no politician should be allowed a golden bridge.

Yep, this. And Labour can fuck off with him.

Of course the Tories don’t give a fuck about women. They care about winning. That’s all the Tory party has ever cared about.

Well Labour certainly don't give a fuck about women or children.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12232885/The-spiritual-father-trans-movement-Dr-John-Money-twisted-experiment.html

Most of Streetings opponents will have been narcissistic and grey rock works.

Streeting and co will have a lifetime watching their back, as there is nobody as determined as someone on the Autistic spectrum with a specialist subject.

David said he wanted to physically attack Money if they met

The thing is, it's not just the direct victims, it's the parents too and the indirect victims, women who self excluded and children forced to lie at school about pronouns, they induced illness in, based upon fabrications.

Yeh I’m not sure what’s so great re caring about TRAs more, fuck that

Good news on Cates and a good one to add for pp who asked what they were doing

I normally rate Streeting quite highly. I remember him being very honest on the BBC when the red wall fell while the likes of Burgon was just mouthing off cluelessly.

As politicians it's their job to understand what's going on in society. Even if they don't agree, it's important for them to at least know and understand what people are upset with. I think that knowledge is very lacking around gender woowoo.

It's disssapointing that Streeting is so unaware. I expect better from him.

They backed the wrong horse. And a bloody misogynistic one at that.

And now, the electorate are all beginning to see it.

So they either cave to popular opinion and look untrustworthy, or they double own.

Personally, I think they've massively misjudged the popular opinion, if they see doubling down as a lesser of two evils.

This is frightening:

https://dailysceptic.org/2023/06/25/the-shameful-silence-over-dana-rivers/

Streeting may be a skilful politician, but that doesn't usually correlate with 'honest', and I doubt he's that. Good at appearing honest, maybe?

As for the gender woo, he's been deep into this for years, he is perfectly aware. He's chosen his side.

“Yeh Starmer didn’t do anything here, the media got partygate happy. It’s a bit much to credit it to him. “

Don’t you follow politics? Starmer built up to it for weeks.
“We’ll leave it there… for now!” Remember him saying that in PMQ?
I’m sure it suits them very well if the Conservatives underestimate him, but they quite clearly don’t.

I can't stand the current Labour Party but I can promise them that no amount of Tory lip service to women's rights would ever induce me to vote for the Tories. They are sharks and we are mere plankton to them.

I just wish we had a fair, grown up left wing party to vote for.

I know you think he’s great but no it’s not convincing.

If he couldn’t capitalise on partygate he’s probably not fit to tie his own shoes.

It was a very good campaigner who got the ball rolling, and that wasn’t Starmer.