by Amy Gibbons and Sapphire Hope, Telegraph
Party wrong to debate pro-trans proposals that will ‘be weaponised against us’, say campaigners
The Liberal Democrats have been accused of “taking a sledgehammer to women’s rights” by debating proposals for more “inclusive” rules on single-sex spaces.
On Monday, the party will vote on a proposal to scrap new guidance banning transgender women, who are born male, from female toilets and changing rooms at its annual conference.
The plans are set out in an emergency motion selected by Lib Dem members, which will also force the party to take a firm stance on whether “trans women are women”.
Liberal Voice for Women, a Lib Dem group campaigning for sex-based rights, warned the policy would be pushed through by a conference “stacked with activists” and force the party “back into the culture wars”.
The backlash threatens to embroil the party’s conference in a transgender row for a second year running, despite Sir Ed Davey on Saturday insisting that he led “the most united party in British politics”.