Taken from an article by NINA LLOYD, DOMINIC MCGRATH AND BEN HATTON, PA POLITICAL STAFF

7 February 2024 at 9:10 pm

The father of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey has demanded an apology from Rishi Sunak after he made a “dehumanising” transgender joke in the Commons while the victim’s mother visited Parliament.

Peter Spooner said he was “shocked” by the jibe made during Prime Minister’s Questions, in which the PM accused Sir Keir Starmer of having difficulty in “defining a woman”.

The remarks have prompted an immediate backlash but Mr Sunak has so far refused to apologise, with Downing Street later insisting the comments were “totally legitimate” and not transphobic.

Mr Spooner told Sky News:

As the Prime Minister for our country to come out with degrading comments like he did, regardless of them being in relation to discussions in Parliament, they are absolutely dehumanising.

Identities of people should not be used in that manner and I personally feel shocked by his comments and feel he should apologise for his remarks.

In an exchange with the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Sunak said:

“I think I have counted almost 30 in the last year. Pensions, planning, peerages, public sector pay, tuition fees, childcare, second referendums, defining a woman – although in fairness, that was only 99% of a U-turn.”

Number 10 repeatedly declined to apologise for Mr Sunak’s language, suggesting it was part of “legitimate” criticism of Labour.

Mr Sunak faced some criticism even from within his party ranks over the jibe.

Former business minister Jackie Doyle-Price told Times Radio it was “careless” and “very ill-judged” for him to use the joke “in that context” but also accused critics of having “weaponised” it.

Former junior minister Dehenna Davison said it was “disappointing to hear jokes being made at the trans community’s expense” and warned that “our words in the House resonate right across our society”.

Brianna was murdered by teenagers Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, who stabbed her to death in a Cheshire park last February.

During their sentencing earlier this month, the judge said the “exceptionally brutal” killing had elements of both sadism from Jenkinson and transphobic hate on the part of Ratcliffe.

This is not the first time the Prime Minister has attacked Labour over the issue of gender identity policies, which have been a frequent subject of debate in Westminster in recent years.

LGBT+ campaigners have condemned some of the language used by politicians to discuss trans people, with the issue often drawn into the so-called “culture war” by right-wingers.

In his Tory conference speech last year, Mr Sunak told Conservative delegates in Manchester: “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be.

“They can’t – a man is a man and a woman is a woman.”

LGBT+ charity Stonewall called Mr Sunak’s words “cheap, callous and crass”.

A spokesperson said:

We call on the Prime Minister to apologise unreservedly for his comments, and for him to reflect on how careless words from those in power can and do result in harm.

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