Pro-trans Labour MP Alex Sobel has apologised after suggesting fellow Labour MP Jonathan Hinder should consider quitting the party over his opposition to woke policies.
Mr Sobel, the MP for Leeds Central and Headingley, came under fire over controversial comments made to the campaign group Act! For Trans Liberation in a video recording seen by the Daily Mail.
He condemned Mr Hinder and suggested he should consider leaving the Labour Party after Mr Hinder made a speech in favour of women's rights, which Mr Sobel branded hard-Right.
Speaking in the video recording, Mr Sobel said: "I'm not quite ready at this point to say that, because of that issue and that view, we should expel him from the Labour Party, he can make his own decisions." He added: "His view will not be the one that's going to go forward."
Mr Sobel also claimed that individuals who believe in biological sex "come from other worlds, with views from those cultures and have brought them in with them to the Labour Party".
Political debate over gender policy
The Labour Party is the governing political party in the United Kingdom, with Members of Parliament representing parliamentary constituencies such as Leeds Central and Headingley in West Yorkshire in the House of Commons. Internal discussions regarding gender identity, biological sex, and single-sex spaces have sparked ongoing debate among politicians and advocacy groups across the country.
Reaction from former Labour MP
Rosie Duffield MP, who resigned from the Labour Party over the leadership's position on gender, criticized Mr Sobel's remarks when speaking to the Mail.
Ms Duffield told the Mail: "It's such a shame that MPs like Alex Sobel cannot understand the serious threat to basic women's rights that their obsessive campaigning for men's rights causes to the ordinary working people they were elected to represent."
Ms Duffield added: "Women are being hounded out of jobs for believing in basic biological reality and the right to protect our vital single sex spaces. I am grateful to Jonathan Hinder and a few other brave Labour MPs who continue to stand up for women."
Apology to colleague
On Sunday night, Mr Sobel was forced to apologise when approached by the Mail over the video recording, stating that he would contact Mr Hinder directly.
Mr Sobel said: "I recognise that I should not have referred to a Labour colleague in this way." He added: "It is important that we always engage in debate in a collegiate and constructive way."
