Transphobia row MP to challenge police

The Conservative Party's deputy chair for women is to challenge a police decision to record her comments about a transgender woman as a "hate incident".

Earlier this month, Redditch MP Rachel Maclean re-shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, which described Bromsgrove Green Party candidate Melissa Poulton as "a man who wears a wig and calls himself a 'proud lesbian'".

In sharing the post by another user, Mrs Maclean commented: "While the Greens don't know what a woman is, my Worcestershire neighbours the people of Bromsgrove certainly do."

West Mercia Police, who say her comment constitutes a "non-crime hate incident" (NCHI), have been approached to respond.

Mrs Maclean had since apologised for the post but said she was not apologising for "the Green Party's policies on sex and gender".

Miss Poulton described the comments as "transphobic".

In an interview with the BBC, Mrs Maclean said: "Trans people have a perfect right to live their lives and are also protected by the equality act.

"But so am I as a woman to say that a man cannot be a woman, so to try and silence me with this kind of recording technique is wrong and that's why I am challenging it."

The recording of NCHIs stem from the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

According to the government, they are used to collect information on "hate incidents" that could escalate into more serious harm but in themselves do not constitute a criminal offence.