Ed Davey: “Quite Clearly” in a bind

Last month Ed was asked by Nick Ferarri on an LBC phone-in to clarify his answer to a question from a caller who had asked him what a woman was:

Nick Ferrari: So a woman can have a penis?

Ed: Well, quite clearly

Our party often struggles to get media cut-through. But on this issue we have no difficulty getting media attention. Here is a snapshot of the response to Ed's claim. 

This is “quite clearly” not the kind of cut-through we want. It’s the kind of cut-through that loses us votes. It makes us look dishonest, unreliable and detached from reality.

Commenting on this story, a spokesperson for LVW said “Ed was visibly irritated by being asked this question for the umpteenth time. He doesn’t want to talk about it. He wants to talk about the NHS, sewage and the cost of living. But he needs to understand that people are going to keep asking him the question until he gives a rational answer.”

It is not sustainable in a reality-based society for there to be no stable definition of "women" that distinguishes them from men. The public is aware of this and will continue to press Lib Dems on it until we are finally able to give an honest answer.

Furthermore, if politicians claim that the advancement of "trans rights" relies on the wholesale rejection of one of the most fundamental realities of our world, namely sex, then they also need to accept their own complicity in the downward spiraling of public support for trans "inclusion". As long as we have a liberal democracy in which people have freedom of mind, the public will never accept this assault on reality.

New polling conducted by Sex Matters backs this up, and of particular interest to Ed, shows Lib Dem voters as significantly more skeptical of trans “inclusion” policies than Labour voters.

A better way forward is needed.

The Westminster Hall debate prompted by the Sex Matters petition to make the Equality Act clear will happen this Monday at 4:30pm. We recommend tuning in.