Labour MPs criticise leadership contenders for focusing on transgender rights issues Shadow minister told i it showed how far the party had ‘drifted’ from the matters affecting voters in former Labour heartlands

Labour MPs representing the party’s industrial heartlands have criticised leadership contenders for concentrating on transgender rights issues instead of focusing on winning back traditional Labour voters.

Leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey sparked a row when she urged members to sign up to a campaign that pledged to “fight” women’s groups deemed to be “transphobic”.

The Labour Campaign for Trans Rights also called for the expulsion of party members who hold “bigoted, transphobic views”, which it maintains includes organisations like Women’s Place UK, which were set up to oppose transgender women’s rights to access women-only services.

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Deputy leadership rivals Angela Rayner and Dawn Butler also called on supporters to sign up to the pledge, with Ms Rayner insisting members should “show your support to our trans and non-binary community”.

Trans and non-binary Labour members have come together to launch the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights; we are fighting for trans rights and liberation through the Labour Party. We urge all trans Labour members and allies to sign our pledges here:https://t.co/4zl8TsFjkZ pic.twitter.com/LOinMWgr8a — Labour Campaign for Trans Rights (@Labour_Trans) February 10, 2020

The move triggered fury among some women Labour members who threatened to quit the party in protest, accusing the campaign of being a “misogynistic abuse of women”.

‘My constituents don’t give a flying f***’

But a Shadow Cabinet member representing a northern seat attacked the whole episode, branding it a “distraction” from winning back traditional Labour voters.

“My constituents don’t give a flying f*** about transsexual issues,” the senior MP told i. “It’s a real live issue in the Labour party but it’s not an issue people talk about on the doorstep.”

A separate shadow minister told i it showed how far the party had “drifted” from the matters affecting voters in former Labour heartlands.

“It is more of the uber-metropolitan concerns that have become common within the Labour Party right now but have absolutely nothing to do with the working class voters that I represent and does nothing to help us get back into power. I don’t recognise my party sometimes.” the MP said.

The Labour Campaign for Trans Rights drew up a list of 12 pledges, top of which demanded that the “trans liberation must be an objective of the Labour Party” and called for changes to the Gender Recognition Act to “improve transgender rights”.

‘Sex is not binary’

The group was backed by Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a supporter of Ms Long-Bailey for leader, who said that “sex is not binary – one or the other”.

Women’s Place UK criticised the campaign group and denied it was “transphobic”.

In a statement it said: “We call on the Labour Party to demonstrate its opposition to this misogynistic abuse of women. Defend us or expel us.”