What is Labour’s position on transwomen in prisons?

The fallout from Scotland’s trans prison debacle continues, raising some awkward questions for Westminster politicians. Many are scrambling to insist that – despite keeping very quiet on the trans issue for years – they were, in fact, never convinced that gender identity should trump biological fact and that women’s rights are paramount.  Even if they didn’t say so during the years when female campaigners saying the same were being hounded and abused.

Lots of the politicians who have recently discovered their long-held but previously unexpressed commitment to women’s safety are from the Labour party. Steve Reed, the Labour shadow Justice Secretary, gave a good example on Good Morning Britain this morning, declaring clearly: ‘Women’s prisons are for biological women.’ Reed was setting out his view that a transwoman who is convicted of sexual crimes should not be housed in female prisons.