Tory MP apologises after accusations of transphobic remarks against rival
The Conservative Party’s deputy chair has apologised after accusations she shared and made transphobic remarks about a Worcestershire rival.
Redditch MP Rachel Maclean shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, that called Green Party candidate for Bromsgrove, Melissa Poulton ‘a man who wears a wig and calls himself a ‘proud lesbian’.’
She also added a comment of her own, writing: ‘While the Greens don’t know what a woman is, my Worcestershire neighbours the people of Bromsgrove certainly do.’
Ms Poulton was born a biological man and began transitioning last year.
She described Ms Maclean’s comments as ‘childish games from a government party who’s going to be out office’.
‘I’m here for representation as a queer woman, as a woman with transgender experience.
‘I’m sure the people of Redditch will see that they’re attacking someone for who they are,’ she said.
‘We’ll see what happens at the ballot box’.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer described Ms Maclean’s remarks as ‘a deeply offensive intervention from an elected MP, who should be representing everybody in the community, not making these nasty, snide and divisive comments,’ the BBC reports.
Ms McLean has since taken her post on X down and wrote: ‘I am sorry for any offence caused and I have now deleted the tweet.
‘I believe everyone should be free to live their lives and fulfil their potential regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity and to have the confidence and the freedom to be themselves.’
However, she later told Metro.co.uk that she was apologising only for offence caused to Ms Poulton, and not for comments relating to what she called the ‘Green Party’s extreme policies on gender and self ID ideology’.
She added: ‘Of course everyone should be free to live their lives and fulfil their potential regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity and to have the confidence and the freedom to be themselves.
‘We should always have conversations relating to these issues in a respectful way, but there is a clear difference between sex and gender and I will not shy away from speaking up about those differences.’
She also said that the Conservative Party is ‘the only party that understands what a woman is and will fight in the face of a barrage of criticism to stand up for women’s rights.’
Ms Poulton has been a member of the Green Party since 2020 and involved in politics for 10 years.
She previously stood as a candidate in the Worcestershire County and Wyre Forest District council elections.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘Representation matters. Transgender people represent 0.25% of the population according to the 2021 national census.
‘Transgender people deserve to be able to stand in all levels of government. I am proud to represent the Green Party in Bromsgrove.
‘If people want to vote for me then they will.’
Ms Maclean’s now deleted comments were made in response to a video Ms Poulton filmed before her recent announcement she would be standing as an MP.
In it she backs the 50:50 Parliament campaign, an initiative to boost female representation in the House of Commons.
‘Representation matters and shapes policy… I encourage the most amazing, brilliant women to stand for politics,’ she says in the clip.
Ms Maclean was elected MP for Redditch in 2017 and served as a minister for safeguarding between 2021 and 2022.
She became deputy chair of the Tory Party last month, which includes responsibility for safeguarding and women.
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