Keir Starmer refused to apologise to former Labour MP Rosie Duffield today during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch questioned the Prime Minister on his response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week that “sex” refers to “biological sex” in the 2010 Equality Act. The Tory leader brought up the treatment of former Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who was widely criticised within her own party for her gender-critical beliefs. In September 2024, Duffield quit Labour, likening working under Starmer to being in an “abusive relationship”. During an interview with UnHerd last October, she claimed that “Keir showed me absolutely no empathy or […] understanding.”

Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the women’s rights campaign group For Women Scotland, which appealed against the Scottish government’s unlawful guidance on single-sex spaces. After the ruling, For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith stated: “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex. Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women.”

A trans rights protest followed in central London on Saturday, attended by several thousand demonstrators. The Metropolitan Police appealed for information after seven statues in Parliament Square were vandalised, including those of suffragette Millicent Fawcett and former South African president Nelson Mandela.

When Badenoch asked whether Starmer would apologise to the “very brave member for Canterbury [Duffield] who was hounded out of the Labour Party for telling the truth,” the PM replied: “I’ve always approached this on the basis that we should treat everyone with dignity and respect.”

“I do think that this is the time to lower the temperature, to move forward, and to conduct this debate with the care and compassion that it deserves,” Starmer said.

The Tory leader continued to press the PM, asking if his previous stance, when he had refused to say whether trans women were women, was wrong. He maintained that the Labour Party would implement the Supreme Court’s ruling, protecting single-sex spaces while maintaining respect for trans people.

Starmer said that the trans issue should not be turned into a “political football”. “There is no apology for the member for Canterbury, there is no taking of responsibility,” replied Badenoch. “He talks about political football, he practically kicked her out of his party.”

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