Keir Starmer Won apos;t Say If Eddie Izzard Will Get On All-women Shortlist

Sir today refused to say whether comedian would be allowed onto an all-women shortlist as part of her bid to become a Labour MP.
A row is brewing within the Labour Party after Izzard this month launched a campaign to be chosen as the party's candidate for Sheffield Central ahead of the next general election.
The 60-year-old - who has previously spoken about her gender-fluid identity and requests to be referred to with she/her pronouns - said she was the 'right person' to represent the South Yorkshire city.
's Paul Blomfield, the incumbent MP, announced in February that he was standing down at the next general election after 12 years in Parliament.
Although a formal process for choosing Labour's next candidate for Sheffield Central has only just begun, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has already threatened to quit the party if Izzard is included on an all-women shortlist.
When he was quizzed about the row this morning, Sir Keir repeatedly refused to comment on 'individual cases' and said Labour would 'look at each case as they come up'.
'I'm not going to discuss individual cases,' he told LBC Radio.

'I know Rosie Duffield's position, my position is as I've set out.
'For 99.9 per cent of women, it's a matter of biology - I completely support that.
'There is a small percentage who struggle with their gender and I'm not going to simply put that on one side and ignore that.'
Sir Keir Starmer today refused to say whether comedian Eddie Izzard would be allowed onto an all-women shortlist as part of her bid to become a Labour MP
Izzard this month launched a campaign to be chosen as Labour's candidate for Sheffield Central ahead of the next general election
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has already threatened to quit Labour if Izzard is included on an all-women shortlist
But the Labour leader added to suggestions the party would no longer be able to impose all-women shortlists - as it has in the past - as more than half of its current MPs are women.
It has been reported that Sheffield Central will be an open selection between possible Labour candidates for this reason.
Sir Keir said: 'We do have all-women shortlists although there's some issue over all-women shortlists that's got nothing to do with this conversation.
'Which is, once you've got I think it's your 50 per cent equality then there's an argument about all-women shortlists anyway.
'As a Labour Party, because we have used all-women shortlists to get now more than 50 per cent of women, there's a legal opinion that says we can't use them anymore.
'This is a worry more generally because I think it might mean we need to make sure that we keep promoting women coming through as candidates. If you liked this information and you would like to receive more info regarding ร้านบีบีกัน kindly go to our web site. '
Last month, Ms Duffield used a fringe event at Labour's conference in Liverpool to threaten to quit the party if Izzard was allowed onto an all-women shortlist.
'I will not be a hypocrite and I won't lie and I won't say that a man is a woman,' she said.
'Eddie Izzard is not a woman. And I am absolutely not the only Labour woman MP who will leave the party if Eddie Izzard gets onto an all-women shortlist.'
Paul Blomfield, the incumbent MP in Sheffield Central, announced in February that he was standing down at the next general election after 12 years in Parliament
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Sir Keir was quizzed about the row when a Labour Party member called into LBC Radio to challenge the party leader on women's rights.
'Let me set this out as a matter of principle starting with perhaps the obvious - for 99.9 per cent of women everything is a matter of biology and I'm very, very supportive of that,' the Labour leader said.
'We have been the party of equality for women for many, many years and lots of the changes in the laws in relation to equality have been because of a Labour government.
'I also believe strongly in the Equality Act and that means safe spaces for women.
'I myself worked hard when I was Director of Public Prosecutions on issues of violence against women and girls, so I've seen firsthand how important that is.
'But what I wouldn't leave out of account is there is a small percentage, a small group of people who do not identify with the gender they were born into and they go through a huge amount of stress.
'If you talk to some of the parents of teenagers who are confused and concerned and can't get the medical treatment they want - I think we should be compassionate and we should recognise we already have a law in place for gender recognition.
'That needs to be modernised.

That's, in principle, where I am on it.'

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