JK Rowling blames Lisa Nandy for why ‘women don’t trust Labour’

JK Rowling has blamed Labour MP Lisa Nandy and her trans-supportive stance for why she thinks “women don’t trust Labour”.

The Harry Potter author and ‘gender-critical’ pundit criticised Nandy, the shadow secretary for international affairs, in a rant on X (formerly Twitter) after her speech at the Labour conference.

In a Monday (9 October) post following her speech, Nandy wrote that her “absolute priority” would be to “empower women and girls” if Labour were to win the next general election.

“Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are non-negotiable,” she continued.

In response, Rowling accused Nandy of saying “rapists should be transferred to women’s prisons if they self-identify as women” and calling the ‘gender critical’ organisation, Women’s Place UK, a “hate group”.

“Given that you’re one of the biggest reasons many women on the left no longer trust Labour to defend their rights, do you stand by those comments?” Rowling wrote.

You said rapists should be transferred to women's prisons if they self-identify as women.
You called Women's Place UK a hate group.
Given that you're one of the biggest reasons many women on the left no longer trust Labour to defend their rights, do you stand by those comments?

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 10, 2023

Rowling’s comments appear to be referencing an answer Nandy gave during the 2020 Labour conference in which she reiterated her support for self-ID.

In actuality, the Labour frontbencher said that she believes the Gender Recognition Act “strikes the wrong balance” in allowing trans people to identify as their correct gender, adding that criminals should have their identity recorded correctly.

“I think trans women are women and I think trans men are men so I think they should be in the prison of their choosing,” Nandy said.

Figures released in 2022 found that there were just 230 trans prisoners in England and Wales and six trans women in women’s prisons out of a total 78,058 prison population.

Most women don’t have an opinion on Lisa Nandy, poll finds

Rowling’s comments on Women’s Place UK refer to an open letter signed by Nandy calling for Labour members who hold “bigoted, transphobic views” to be expelled.

It also labelled the group, which predominantly opposes gender self-identification through “gender-critical” rhetoric, as a “trans-exclusionist hate group”.

Nandy has previously said that Labour MPs who “raise questions” about self-ID shouldn’t be expelled, adding that she signed the open letter because she believed the sentiment to be “really important”.

“I don’t think that proscribing organisations is actually the right way to deal with disciplinary issues in the Labour Party.”

According to the most recent YouGov statistics, around 17 per cent of women have an unfavourable view of Lisa Nandy, while 13 per cent are favourable.

However, 70 per cent of the poll either didn’t know who she was or didn’t have an opinion on her.

Meanwhile, 40 per cent of women had a favourable view of the Labour Party, while just 23 per cent of women respondents viewed the Conservative Party favourably.

Similarly, 46 per cent of women viewed the Labour Party unfavourably, while 66 per cent felt similarly negative about the Conservative Party.