Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy faced a ferocious backlash last night after leaving open the door for trans athletes to compete in women’s sport.
Ms Nandy sparked fury from campaigners after she dropped the previous government’s insistence that sporting bodies must protect women’s sports by banning trans competitors.
The Culture Secretary – who was backed by Downing Street – said Labour would instead leave the issue to sports’ governing bodies, despite warnings that many have been accused of pandering to trans campaigners.
The Women’s Rights Network said ‘most sports have not got the balance right’ – and pointed to research showing that more than 50 sports, including football, cricket and tennis, allow trans athletes to compete and use women’s changing rooms.
The campaign group said it was ‘scandalous’ that biological males were still allowed to compete in areas like grassroots football, adding: ‘Sports are failing to protect the rights of women and girls.
Lisa Nandy told House Magazine ‘biology does matter’ in sport but wants to ensure trans folk are ‘being afforded the same dignity as everybody else’
‘Lisa Nandy told us loudly and proudly who she was pre-election. She’s one of the main reasons I couldn’t vote Labour,’ Harry Potter author JK Rowling wrote on Twitter/X about Ms Nandy
Suella Braverman, pictured speaking to LBC on Tuesday, called the decision a ‘total betrayal of women by Labour’
‘Sport needs strong leadership from the new sports minister. It needs a sports minister willing to stand up and say “enough is enough”. Women and girls need fair, safe and equal sport.’
Former home secretary Suella Braverman, who has urged the FA to ban trans footballers from the women’s game, said women’s sport would be ‘destroyed’ unless action was taken.
She told the Mail: ‘This is a total betrayal of women by Labour. Men should not be allowed to compete against women in women’s sport. Extensive evidence has shown that women are opting out of women’s sport because of transwomen, ie men, participating.
‘It is entirely lawful to exclude men from women’s sport and allow transgender people the chance to participate in a separate category.
‘As Attorney General I was the first minister to make this clear, so there should be no doubt about the legal position. But for reasons of safety, dignity and fairness, these bans should be imposed.’
Ms Nandy has previously faced criticism for suggesting that violent male offenders should have the right to serve their sentences in women’s prisons if they transition to the opposite gender.
Downing Street backed Ms Nandy. The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: ‘The Government’s position is that this is a matter for sporting bodies, they are the experts in their particular area
Health Secretary Wes Streeting defended keeping the ban on puberty blockers, adding he was ‘treading cautiously’, because of the unclear long term impact of drugs on young people
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has clashed with her over the issue in the past, renewed hostilities yesterday.
In a post on X, she said: ‘A woman who thinks trans-identified sex offenders should be in “the prison of their choosing” was hardly going to balk at males in women’s sport, was she?
‘Lisa Nandy told us loudly and proudly who she was pre-election. She’s one of the main reasons I couldn’t vote Labour.’
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies also weighed in on social media, telling Ms Nandy: ‘Sport should be competed in by sex. It is not at all complicated.
‘Girls and women get a tiny slice of the sports cake and now you, Labour and Keir Starmer, are telling them they also don’t get fair sport. This does not happen to men in men’s sport. We are not less worthy.’
The row came after Ms Nandy signalled a shift in the government’s position on allowing trans women to compete in female sport.
In an interview in the House magazine, Ms Nandy acknowledged that ‘biology does matter’ in sport, but said she trusted sporting bodies to deal with the issue. She said that ‘broadly speaking, most sports have got that right.’
She added: ‘I think that is the right approach. And I think we ought to respect the fact that they’re far more expert in making those judgments and decisions than we are.
‘I think most have come to the conclusion that – although they want to be as inclusive as possible – biology does matter when it comes to sport, and that it’s impossible to balance the requirement of fairness without ensuring that they take biology into account. I think that’s broadly sensible.’
But the survey by the Women’s Rights Network found that dozens of sports still allow trans women to compete in women’s categories.
Only eight sports were found to exclude trans women from female categories at all levels, including athletics, boxing and rugby.
Ms Nandy’s position marks a significant shift from the previous government. In April, the then Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer told a summit of sporting leaders that she wanted to a see a blanket ban on trans athletes competing in women’s sport.
In her attack on the Labour politician, Rowling noted how Ms Nandy once said trans women ‘should be accommodated in a prison of their choosing’
The Harry Potter author previously backed Wes Streeting as he faced a backlash from backbenchers and activists over a decision to keep the prohibition on the strong drugs
Writing in the Mail, she said governing bodies had a duty to take an ‘unambiguous position’ on the issue – and said some had been too slow to take concerns seriously.
‘We must get back to giving women a level playing field to compete. We need to give women a sporting chance.’
Downing Street backed Ms Nandy. The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: ‘The Government’s position is that this is a matter for sporting bodies, they are the experts in their particular area.
‘Clearly we don’t want to see women’s sport undermined – that is where the balance with fairness and safety comes in – but we fully support sporting bodies in maintaining integrity in their sport.’
Ms Nandy is a longstanding supporter of trans rights. She signed the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights pledge card during the 2020 leadership race, which stated that ‘there is no material conflict between trans rights and women’s rights’ and said the party should expel members with ‘transphobic views’.
She told the House magazine: ‘I’ve been a big supporter of the trans community. I think they’re the most marginalised, discriminated against group of people in our country at the moment.
‘And I want them to know and to feel that this government cares deeply about them being included, and being respected, and being afforded the same dignity as everybody else.
‘But there is a consideration when it comes to sport about biology – it does matter – and about fairness.’
