Burnham - does he know what a woman is?

[Dragonasaurus]

Just that really - we’ve had Starmer prevaricating, fence sitting, “most women don’t have a penis” in fact women don’t have a penis’ but somehow I’m going to let Phillipson sit on the guidance which would ensure women’s single sex spaces (some of them anyway)…..

Would Burnham be any better? Does anyone know what his position is?

He doesn't like to be probed at all, does he? Nice, pleasant soundbites are not going to wash should he end up as PM.

The guidance shouldn't need to be " interpreted". It just needs to be clear.

If some establishments want to go to the great expense of installing fully compliant mixed sex facilities they can, but for most busineses and venues a single additional unisex/acessible facility should suffice ( alongside existing facilities). Some venues have already done this without any great fuss or fanfare.

Yeah, it is really. Not not very smart politics either, you'd think he'd do better presenting himself as interested in what people have to say, with a friendly smile on his face, in contrast to the notorious wooden Starmer.

But since his Bee Network has now reached me, we do at least benefit from a pretty modern fleet of buses, which is quite an improvement. And they are cheaper (not that I pay for them). So he has done something for the area. I doubt it translates into votes, though.

Personally I like a politician who is sensitive to the needs of lots of different people and able to see grey areas, not just black and white ones. But the Mumsnet echo chamber probably won’t agree.

Yeah, Andy Burnham...
...these are my principles and if you don't like them...well, I have others.

No, we just like people to be truthful. His triangulating on views re trans is so typical of the modem Labour politician.

Funny that, cos that's pretty much what I said upthread. I'd like that too, but see no evidence that AB is that kind of person. He's hardly showing himself as very 'listening' there, is he?

What does cheer me is that finally the question is being asked. And by the BBC no less.
It's not much but it's something.

Liverpool now has that too...a nice new fleet of price capped buses. It is not something unique to Manchester, nor entirely of Burnham's own doing.

Paying lip service when expedient is not the same as genuinely listening and understanding, though.

Well I'm glad he's at least said he thinks the ruling and the guidance should be implemented. This isn't because I trust him or have any time for his by-election vanity project, but because he's now on forever record as stating that he supports it, and the Internet will never let him forget.

Even if the Starmer camp wanted to do the opposite I think releasing the guidance helped Burnham out of a hole in the end. He could simply say he backed it.

The future concern is any tie up with Polanski who could pressure change.

Excellent points.
I recall the period on here when Starmer was more and more looking to score a win at the GE.
Those left-leaning GC members here who said that Labour in power would surely tack back to reality, to common sense, that Starmer's comments that 99% of women have a cervix wouldn't mean anything once Labour were in power.
All in all, you might not like voting Labour, but they would reach the benchmark of reality on women's rights in a trans activist public sphere.
Women here said Starmer could make any number of common sense proclamations, women would not suffer.
I guess we'll now hear the same about Burnham as PM, that again the adults in the room will win out, and he can generally be trusted with women's rights.
I know what I felt about Starmer ahead of the GE, and I feel the same about Burnham if he ascends to No.10.

Me too, but also one who’s prepared to listen to what those needs are, not just say he’s decided so we should all just shut up stop arguing

Anyone who says ‘stop arguing’ is effectively saying ‘I don’t want to hear your arguments’

But maybe he’ll acquire another opinion once in office.

I'd quite like to use that in my life every time I decide I can't be bothered to do what I had originally said I would do!

"Too bad, I know I said we could have pizza for breakfast, but, in the interim, I've acquired another opinion. Bran flakes it is."

Must be quite handy for a politician to have lying around.

Yes I was on here and the zeitgeist, which I was very much part of, was very much "starmer is on record spouting gender woo bollocks, we kept the receipts, behold" with one very persistent poster going on and on at us to vote Labour anyway. That person gave themselves peace very soon after the election, strange that.

I do recall that person, must be the one who inspired the post you quoted.
I wonder where he/she/they/lol are now?

I believe it was someone called Adam Ryan, who would have said something like:
Labour were the only choice in 2024, a vote for the right was pushing the Overton Window to extremism, and Starmer was ultimately a sensible bod that despite comments like "99% of women have a cervix", women's rights wrt gender ideology were safe in his ultimately sensible hands.
And I'm sure would say the same thing about Burnham. And Rayner/Streeting/Milliband etc.

AdamRyan was a woman.

Sorry, I thought you said “he”. Ignore me, no coffee yet!

And pray tell, where has she been since Labour got in?