JK Rowling has criticised Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy for her views on transgender issues – describing her as “one of the biggest reasons many women on the left no longer trust Labour”.
The writer made the outburst on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the shadow international development secretary vowed during her Labour conference speech to stand up for “women’s rights”.
The Harry Potter author questioned that support, raising previous comments Ms Nandy has made and a letter she signed backing the expulsion of Labour members who hold “bigoted, transphobic views”.
Ms Rowling has been highly critical of Labour’s stance on trans issues after Sir Keir Starmer said “trans women are women”.
The latest row came as Ms Nandy tweeted words from her speech stating: “Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are non-negotiable. My absolute priority will be to embolden and empower women and girls in every part of the world.”
A furious Ms Rowling tweeted: “You said rapists should be transferred to women’s prisons if they self-identify as women. You called Woman’s Place UK a hate group.”
She added: “Given that you’re one of the biggest reasons many women on the Left no longer trust Labour to defend their rights, do you stand by these comments?”
The comment referred to remarks made by Ms Nandy at the 2020 Labour conference. “I believe very fundamentally in people’s rights to self-ID, and I believe the Gender Recognition Act strikes the wrong balance in relation to that,” she said.
The Labour frontbencher added: “So crimes I think that are recorded should be recorded as that person wishes, who has been through that process, received support and self-identified. I think trans women are women and I think trans men are men so I think they should be in the prison of their choosing.”
Shadow international development secretary Lisa Nandy— (PA Archive)
Ms Nandy also signed a pledge card organised by the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights that said party members who hold “bigoted, transphobic views” should be expelled.
It also called Woman’s Place UK – a group that opposes gender self-identification for transgender people – as a “trans-exclusionist hate group”.
But the senior Labour MP also said: “Do I think that women in the Labour party who raise questions about it should be expelled? No I don’t.”
When asked about the issue on Sky News on 2020, Ms Nandy said: “I have to say, that was the part of the pledge that gave me pause for thought about whether to sign it.”
“I decided to sign it in the end because I think that the sentiment of the pledge about protecting trans rights and about accepting that trans men are men and trans women are women is really important, especially at the moment with the level of discrimination that people face.”
She added: “I don’t think that proscribing organisations is actually the right way to deal with disciplinary issues in the Labour party.”
Sir Keir was attacked by Ms Rowling for saying existing UK law meant that transgender women can already be considered women.
Asked to define what a woman is, Sir Keir told The Times: “A woman is a female adult, and in addition to that trans women are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law.”
Rowling took to Twitter to claim Sir Keir “publicly misrepresents equalities law”, saying it was “yet another indication that the Labour Party can no longer be counted on to defend women’s rights”.
