Wes Streeting yesterday backed a new health minister who said that people can self-identify as a llama.
The Heath Secretary was confronted in the Commons about remarks by Ashley Dalton, who was appointed a new minister in his department by Sir Keir Starmer on Monday.
She claimed in 2016 that anyone who decides they’re a South American cousin of the camel should be treated with ‘dignity and respect’ and allowed to maintain that identity.
Mocking the remarks, which featured widely in yesterday’s newspapers, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson asked Mr Streeting during a debate: ‘The new health minister has stated that it’s OK for a human being to present as a llama.
‘So what I want to know is, if I have a family member who presents as a llama and suddenly becomes ill in the middle of the night, do they send for a doctor, a vet or a straightjacket?’
But rather than condemn Ms Dalton’s comments, made during an X exchange, Mr Streeting praised her, saying: ‘I can just say to the Honourable member, that my Honourable friend the minister for public health believes in treating every human being with the dignity and respect they deserve.’
Ms Dalton was chosen by Sir Keir to replace disgraced former health minister Andrew Gwynne, who was dramatically sacked at the weekend after The Mail on Sunday revealed his involvement in a WhatsApp group in which racist, sexist and anti-Semitic messages were exchanged.
In newly unearthed comments, which yesterday drew fresh condemnation over her views on transgender rights, it emerged that Ms Dalton has suggested that people should avoid the term ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ because it could offend trans people.
Ashley Dalton claimed in 2016 that anyone who decides they’re a South American cousin of the camel should be treated with ‘dignity and respect’ and allowed to maintain that identity
Mocking the remarks, which featured widely in yesterday’s newspapers, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson asked Mr Streeting during a debate: ‘The new health minister has stated that it’s OK for a human being to present as a llama’
The Heath Secretary was confronted in the Commons about remarks by Ashley Dalton, who was appointed a new minister in his department by Sir Keir Starmer on Monday
Using the age-old term ‘assumes there are only two genders and that everyone must pick one,’ she said in 2016 while discussing her views on X.
‘We spend far too much time worrying about what is between other people’s legs,’ she said, adding: ‘Trans women are women. Don’t assume you know anything about their bodies or anyone else’s.’
And suggesting that trans women, who were born biological males, should be able to use female toilets, she said: ‘My point is toilets shouldn’t force folk to be publicly misgendered.’
Dismissing concerns that women could be attacked by trans women in female-only spaces, she added: ‘Claiming trans women are all a rape risk is like saying gay men are all potential paedophiles. It’s very offensive.’
She even posed the question: ‘Is reproduction that important?’
It raised fresh fears last night about women-only wards and spaces and whether they will be protected by Labour as Ms Dalton will be responsible for helping to deliver NHS services.
Sir Keir has himself previously said that ‘trans women are women’ and that it’s wrong to say that ‘only women have a cervix’.
Maya Forstater, CEO of human rights charity Sex Matters, said: ‘We hope she quickly clarifies that she has rethought since then, and now accepts her party’s position that single-sex spaces are important and must be protected.
Labour’s Ashley Dalton celebrates after being declared the winner in the West Lancashire by-election at Burscough Racquet and Fitness Centre in Ormskirk, Lancashire
It raised fresh fears last night about women-only wards and spaces and whether they will be protected by Labour as Ms Dalton will be responsible for helping to deliver NHS services
Labour’s Ashley Dalton celebrates after being declared the winner in the West Lancashire by-election at Burscough Racquet and Fitness Centre in Ormskirk, Lancashire
‘It is particularly important, since her portfolio relates to health, that she disavows the newly revealed remarks about how people ‘spend far too much time worrying about what is between other people’s legs’.
‘This is a biologically illiterate and dismissive way to describe sex differences, as if women were the same as men except for the reproductive organs.’
Former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, who has been campaigning for trans women to be excluded from female sport, said: ‘Reproduction is pretty important to the human race.
‘And Labour will be swimming very much against the tide of public opinion yet again if they can’t differentiate between the reality of biological sex and… gender.’
The Health Department was last night forced to confirm it plans to protect women-only spaces after the Daily Mail unearthed Ms Dalton’s comments about transgender rights.
A spokesman said: ‘We are committed to protecting single sex spaces, including changing rooms, toilets and wards.’
