Fury over Welsh government’s plan to redefine women to include transgender females as ‘grave concerns’ raised

LABOUR’S First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford sparked fury today as it emerged he wants to change the law so that transwomen can stand as females in Senedd elections.

Mr Drakeford wants to make it a legal requirement that half of all candidates on any list to be members of the Senedd are women.

Getty

But a leaked draft of the Gender Quotas Bill shows this would include people with a penis who identity as the opposite gender.

And it rules that officials who run elections cannot challenge or making inquiries about trans candidates standing as women.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies hit out at the move, warning it would have “a detrimental impact on women’s rights across our country”.

He said: “I am concerned about this proposal and have met with women’s rights groups recently to discuss their views.

“Those rights have been hard fought for and I fear could now be undermined by the Labour-run Welsh Government’s ill-thought policy.

“Labour’s priorities should be fixing the Welsh NHS, which has the worst waiting lists in the UK, and creating better-paid jobs.”

Mr Drakeford has frequently said that he thinks “transgender women are women”.

He told the Senedd last year: “My starting point is the same as Penny Mordaunt’s – the UK minister responsible at the time – who said that the UK government’s starting point was that transgender women are women.

“That’s my starting point in this debate.”

Cathy Larkman, Welsh co-ordinator of the Women’s Rights Network blasted the move as a serious risk to gender equality.

She said: “Firstly, it undermines the rights of half of the population of Wales.

“Secondly, they are hijacking legislation that should benefit women and increase female participation in public life in order to embed a toxic and misogynist ideology.

“Thirdly, they don’t have the legal powers to push this through anyway and are making a calculated risk that no one will oppose them.”