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A transgender woman has been chosen to champion women for Labour in Nottingham South.

Dr Heather Peto will now take up the role of women’s officer at the Constituency Labour Party, which involves encouraging women to be more involved with the party.

The stem-cell scientist has previously tried to become Rushcliffe’s Labour candidate to stand against Ken Clarke but was beaten by Cheryl Pidgeon.

She tweeted: “I'm delighted to have been elected Women's Officer for Nottingham SoutH, in the week of International Women's Day.

“Before some of the anti-trans lobby start to warn that the world is about to end, I was first elected as a Woman's officer for Pembroke College in 2001, it is not news.”

Lilian Greenwood, the Labour MP for Nottingham South, said: “Obviously I am delighted, she will be an excellent women’s officer. She has been a really active member for a number of years.

“We are pushing boundaries – trans people do face discrimination but we are behind her.

“She self identifies as a woman so we will treat her as a woman like any other member. It has never been an issue and we are very proud to support her.”

She added that she had seen “totally unacceptable” things posted online about Dr Peto, although not from Labour members, and said: “People have the right to raise concerns and have a genuine debate.

“But some of the things I have seen online have been abusive and that is totally unacceptable.”