Keir Starmer backs barring trans players from women’s sport

Sir Keir Starmer has said it is unsafe and unfair for biological males to compete in female sporting categories.

Following the launch of a Labour initiative to encourage more girls to get active, the party leader publicly backed moves by governing bodies to ringfence elite sport for women.

Last month, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer MP said there was an “inherent unfairness” in allowing biological men to compete against women.

‘Common sense’

Sir Keir told Telegraph Sport: “I think the important thing is that the sports’ governing bodies take a lead on this. And they are doing that, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing, particularly in elite sport.”

He added that “in the end, common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity”.

Last year, Starmer declared that a “woman is an adult female”, having previously claimed that “99.9% of women do not have a penis”.

Broken dreams

According to the website SheWon.org, an enterprise funded by Alliance Defending Freedom, hundreds of female athletes have been displaced by males in women’s sporting events and competitions over the past two decades.

The website reveals that between 2001 and 2024, more than 600 female athletes have been deprived of 913 medals, records, scholarships or other opportunities by biological males competing in women’s categories. Sports affected include cycling, rowing, skateboarding, athletics and skiing.

Commenting on the growing archive, Executive Director of Sex Matters Maya Forstater asked: “How many women and girls need to lose their sporting dreams to a man for it to be a problem?”