Sir Keir Starmer suffered a shock by-election defeat in his own backyard overnight, after Labour’s campaign imploded over a trans rights row.
Labour slumped to second place in a traditionally safe council seat in Hackney, down 13.1 percent compared to their last showing.
The Tories, meanwhile, shot up to 53.8 percent of the vote, an increase of 47.4 percent, partly off the back of the collapse in the Lib Dems’ vote, which fell by 35 points to just 2.4 percent.
The local politics showdown witnessed the dramatic result largely thanks to the farce within the Labour campaign, which saw their candidate Laura Pascal suspended over a trans row.
Ms Pascal described herself as a “self-professed feminist”, whose tweet in July last year arguing “trans women are not female. By definition they are male” sparked uproar among left-wing activists.
The London regional branch of Labour suspended her last week following “a number of complaints about transphobia”.
The suspension lasted all the way up to the day of the election itself, only being lifted after she had personally apologised to anyone offended by her pro-women tweets.
The Tories, meanwhile, put up Ian Sharer, who came runner-up in 2022 when standing as a Lib Dem.
The ward falls within Diane Abbot’s ultra-safe Labour seat, which the Labour Party has not held since her suspension over alleged antisemitism in April 2023.
Ms Pascal, who appears still committed to the Labour Party, continues to describe herself as a “feminist and unapologetic for my gender critical views”.
Despite the unnecessary row, those on the left are now arguing that Labour should learn the lesson to be more in favour of transgender rights than less.
One Trans Twitter/X user argued: “Maybe Labour can learn their base aren’t going to back a bigoted candidate.”
Labour councillor Meg Birchall also called for the Labour Party to “take action” against Ms Pascal’s “transphobia”, arguing her comments breached party rules around conduct that was “grossly detrimental to the party”.
However a number of women’s rights activists have leapt to her defence, saying she had been subjected to a “witch-hunt”.
One user argued: “Anybody claiming that those who called Pascal ‘transphobic’ switched their vote to the Tories because of Pascal’s belief in reality is sorely mistaken.
“Those people would switch their vote to Green or LibDem (which clearly didn’t happen). Looks like all the LibDems voted for a favoured ex-LibDem candidate who jumped ship to the Tories.”
The Hackney Conservatives said they were “delighted” by the victory, thanking residents for an “historic” win.
They pledged to continue representing “all our communities, and will continue to oppose the rollout of LTNs”.
