Starmer says Labour changed trans policy in light of Scotland’s gender recognition bill – UK politics live | Politics

Nicky Campbell ended by asking if there was going to be a shadow cabinet reshuffle.

Keir Starmer sounded evasive, and said he would not be announcing anything about reshuffles live on air.

And that was the end of the Q&A.

Q: Do you think it is acceptable to roll back on your environment policies to win the election?

Starmer said he was not in favour of rolling back on any green policies. He had not done that, he said. He said he was committed to having green energy by 2030.

He said the government was “all over the place” on these issues.

He said he was committed to green policies because they would mean lower bills. And he said so many future jobs depended on these policies.

Campbell quotes from this tweet from Jeremy Corbyn yesterday.

Without bold action, the fires in southern Europe will become the new norm.

So will the fires, floods, droughts, smog and crop failures in the Global South that our media largely ignores.

Those who sneer at radical change are letting our planet die.

It’s time to fight back

Q: Is Corbyn right?

Starmer said he was not there to debate with Jeremy Corbyn. But he insisted his policies were radical.

Campbell reads out some questions on trans issues. What is a woman? What is your policy on trans rights? Why do we ask what is a woman, but not what is a man?

Q: Why did you announce the new policy in an article in the Guardian?

Starmer says a woman is an adult female?

He says there was a byelection last week. Then there was a national policy forum meeting. They agreed a range of policy. On trans, they had a chance to reflect on what happened in Scotland.

(Labour announced a new policy; it no longer favours self-recognition for trans people wanting to transition.)

Q: Scottish Labour does not agree with the new policy. It still supports self-ID.

Starmer says he does not agree with that. He wants to modernise the process of applying for a gender recognition certificate. But he wants to keep it a medical process.

And he believes in the importance of safe spaces for women.

Q: Are you saying trans women are a threat?

Starmer says it is more about having a space where biological women can feel safe.

Q: Why wouldn’t they be safe with trans women there?

Starmer says the Scottish prisoner case, Isla Bryson, illustrates why.

Q: Are you saying there are a lot of cases like that?

No, says Starmer, but he is saying safe spaces are important.

A caller from Hillingdon asks about the extension of the ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) in London.

Q: Do you understand the impact of this on residents?

Yes, says Starmer. He says this was a big issue in the Uxbridge byelection.

Q: What do you want Sadiq Khan to do?

Starmer says he wants Khan to reflect on the roll-out.

He says the law requires Khan to take measures to reduce air pollution. The government put that law in place. The first Ulez scheme was introduced by a Tory mayor, he says.

He says he spoke to Khan after the byelection. He has got a lot of respect for him. But he wants him to consider if there is more that could be done.

The scrappage scheme could be more generous, he says. He says the government has not funded this in London, but it has funded schemes in other places. That would be one idea, he says.

Q: Do you think the expansion should go ahead? In interviews before the byelection, you dodged the question.

Starmer says this is not a simple yes/no matter. If the law says you must do something, you cannot ignore it. But is there more you can do? He says he is not going to give answers on air as to what the alternative options might be.

Keir Starmer says NatWest “got this one wrong”. He says Alison Rose got this wrong.

People should not have their personal details revealed, he says. He says that is a general rule.

He says he does not think people should be refused banking services because of their political views.

But he does not know how widespread this is – or indeed if it is happening, he says.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

NatWest got this one wrong. And that’s why Alison Rose had to resign.

Asked if he felt sorry for Nigel Farage, Starmer said:

Yeah, he shouldn’t have had his personal details revealed like that. It doesn’t matter who you are, that’s a general rule.

He went on:

I certainly don’t think anybody should be refused banking services because of their political views, whoever they are.

Asked if banks had too much power when it comes to individuals, he said:

I’m surprised to hear these stories of banks taking into account political views, if indeed they are.

I don’t know that we’ve got to the bottom of this. But that shouldn’t happen and certainly shouldn’t be a reason for refusing someone banking services.

Many MPs or their families have been turned down by banks because of “politically exposed persons” (PEP) rules, the policing minister, Chris Philp, has said. Geneva Abdul has the story.

Good morning. Nigel Farage stood down as leader of the Brexit party more than two years ago, and since then he has not had a position in frontline politics, but he has still got an extraordinary capacity to stir things up. As well as being one of only three or four people who can credibly claim to have been essential in making Brexit happen, he can now add to his list of contributions to British life the resignation of the NatWest boss, Alison Rose.

This is largely a story about banking, and Jasper Jolly is covering it in detail on our business live blog. But it is also about politics, and Farage was successful in forcing Rose to quit because he had the tacit support of the government.

Why? Partly because ministers believe (not unreasonably) that banks should not close people’s accounts for political reasons and leak details of their accounts to the media. Partly because a surprising number of politicians have found their own access to banking affected by the politically exposed person (PEP) rules – although mostly this is about banks not wanting politicians as customers because they don’t like the bureaucratic hassle that comes with a PEP account, not because they are making a political judgment.

But there is another factor too. In any contest with Brexity populism (and the rightwing press) on one side, and an establishment institution on the other, the Conservative party is terrified of ending up on the wrong side. Kevin Schofield from HuffPost made that point in an interview this morning.

Keir Starmer is doing a phone-in on Radio 5 Live this morning, and so we will hear from him later. But we got a flavour of what he is likely to say when Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow international trade secretary, was on the Today programme. He said the Farage/Rose affair showed the government was guilty of double standards. He said:

Isn’t it quite remarkable that we had a situation where last night the prime minister and the chancellor quickly weighed in on this matter to comment on Dame Alison Rose’s future. Yet, when it’s come to putting their own house in order, when it’s come to Gavin Williamson, when it came to Nadeem Zahawi, when it came to Dominic Raab, they dragged their feet. If only they showed that same efficiency, that same speed, dealing with their own internal problems, as they did last night …

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes figures on ill health and economic inactivity.

9.30am: The Home Office publishes police workforce statistics.

10am: Keir Starmer takes part in a Q&A with Nicky Campbell on Radio 5 Live.

2pm: Rishi Sunak gives evidence to the infected blood inquiry.

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