A transgender teenager who demanded the removal of a female Labour member from her post as women’s officer over her allegedly “transphobic” views has been elected to the post in her local Labour party.

Lily Madigan, 19, who was born male but identifies as a woman, claims she is the first transgender woman to be women’s officer, after winning the vote in Rochester and Strood, in Kent.

Her appointment highlights the battle being fought between transgender activists, who believe gender should be a matter of self-declaration, and critics who claim that the very category of “woman” is being erased to appease the demands of a minority group.

Labour Party rules state that “the women’s officer must be a woman”. Ms Madigan said it was “misguided”