A Tory councillor who transitioned from male to female a decade ago has accused a Labour opponent of “misgendering” and filed a complaint with police after he called her “he”.

Zoe Kirk-Robinson, 35, said Bolton’s former mayor Guy Harkin is guilty of a hate crime after he repeatedly addressed her as “he” and “him” instead of “she” and “her” at a recent meeting.

Cllr Harkin, 69, a retired senior management lecturer who served as the town’s mayor in 2012/13, insists it was a slip of the tongue and said it happened a couple of times, not repeatedly.