Oh dear. It seems that not all in the Labour party share their leader’s professed scepticism of Scotland’s new Gender Recognition Reform Bill. This afternoon, Rosie Duffield rose in the Commons to support Scottish secretary Alister Jack’s decision to block the new legislation. But she had barely started speaking before the jeers rang out across the House.
Barracking is hardly unusual in parliament, yet what was remarkable was how they came exclusively from the opposition benches. Members of Duffield’s own party joined in unison with the SNP to express their displeasure at her words of encouragement for Jack.
Jack responded by praising Duffield’s ‘courage in standing up for this issue’ to warm cheers of approval from Conservative MPs. Duffield, who has been the Labour MP for Canterbury since 2017, subsequently tweeted:
Being shouted down in the Chamber by @UKLabour men who clearly don’t want women to speak up for our rights to single-sex spaces.
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