A candidate for the National Policy Forum has been excluded from the women’s section of the forum because they are a trans woman.
Emily Brothers, Labour’s first openly trans parliamentary candidate, had been endorsed by the soft-left faction Mainstream for the internal elections, but has been excluded from contesting reserved seats allocated for women in the NPF elections for the Southern region.
Brothers has also been excluded from being a delegate to Labour’s women’s conference, following a decision by the party to block trans women from proceedings to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a ‘woman’.
Kerry Postlewhite, chair of Mainstream’s internal council and newly-elected member on the party’s National Executive Committee, said: “We object to this action and view Emily’s exclusion from NPF reserved seats for women as unfair and contrary to the values of our movement.
“This decision is needlessly disadvantaging Emily, who is already breaking down enough barriers. What is the purpose? Surely, a more inclusive culture is what party members deserve.”
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Brothers previously stood for parliamentary election in Sutton and Cheam in 2015 and for Isle of Wight East at the last general election. She came out as trans in late 2014, working with the party’s front bench Equalities Team – becoming Labour’s first openly trans parliamentary candidate.
She said: “I concluded with frontbench colleagues this was the right thing to do to protect the reputation of the Labour Party, avoiding negative coverage about another politician not being honest.
“The act of ‘coming out’ has been at some personal cost, not least now that Labour has drawn on that information to penalise me in standing for the NPF and banning me as a delegate to women’s conference. The party wouldn’t have been able to discriminate against me without trawling through the media to identify articles in LabourList, Pink News and various other publications.
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“The NEC should take immediate steps to remedy this injustice towards trans people, particularly the egregious exclusion of legally certified sex in policy, practices and procedures, including in all elections designated for women.
“I urge the Labour Party to legislate in this Parliament to remedy the Supreme Court decision, subsequently updating EHRC guidance. We need to find ways to reverse the injustice and indignity being experienced by me and other trans women.”
Mainstream claims that the organisation had tried to raise the issue with Labour privately and sought a meeting with relevant decision-makers “to no avail”.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Labour is committed to advancing women in politics, including through reserved women’s places on the National Policy Forum. There are also non-reserved NPF places, providing opportunities for all eligible members to contribute.”
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