A trans councillor who quit the Labour Party after accusing the party of “throwing trans people under the bus” has joined the Liberal Democrats, PinkNews can exclusively reveal.
Dylan Tippetts, who is Plymouth’s first out trans councillor and has represented the Compton ward on Plymouth City Council since 2022, will now sit as a Lib Dem councillor.
Tippetts resigned from Labour on Friday (9 May) after senior government figures, including party leader and prime minister Keir Starmer, expressed support for the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act refers solely to “biological sex”. A spokesperson for the prime minister later confirmed Starmer no longer believes that trans women are women.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is anticipated to have wide-ranging impacts for the trans community, as well as organisations, public bodies and services who may be forced to update their policies on single-sex spaces, inclusion and discrimination. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has already issued widely-condemned interim guidance stating trans people should be barred from using single-sex spaces.
In his resignation post, Tippetts wrote that “the Labour party nationally has thrown transgender people under the bus and has taken us backwards decades. Everyone deserves the right to live peacefully, and the Labour party continues to deny transgender people that basic right.”
“I cannot continue to represent a party that does not support my fundamental rights. I cannot as a trans person continue to support the Labour party.”
Today (15 May), Tippetts announced he has changed parties to the Lib Dems and will become the sole councillor representing Ed Davey‘s party on Plymouth City Council, which has a Labour majority.
In a statement to PinkNews, he said: “I first got into politics to give people a voice who may not otherwise have one. For me, that means always standing up for equal rights for all.
“In the face of rising far-right populism, the Liberal Democrats are not running away from the battle for equal rights for all. They are the party of fairness, even when the going gets tough. I’m proud to be joining the Liberal Democrats and joining the battle for the future of our city and the future of our country.
“I meant what I said to the trans community when I got elected. Your voice matters. I will always make sure trans voices are listened to and valued in this period of turbulence and division our country faces.”
Tippetts continued: “In Compton ward, I am proud to have stood with residents on difficult planning issues, when the buses got cut, and when basic services haven’t been delivered. Thank you to the wonderful people of Compton, Mannamead, Mutley and Hartley Vale for your support over the past three years.
“I look forward to continuing to stand with you and working to make things better for you until the end of my term.”
In response the chair of Plymouth Liberal Democrats, Stuart Bonar, said he is “delighted” to welcome Tippetts to the Lib Dems, adding it will be “fantastic that there will now be a Liberal Democrat voice in the council chamber”.
“Learning about Dylan’s decision to leave Labour, I am reminded of what the Lib Dems are all
about,” Bonar said.
“Put simply, we believe that everyone should be able to live their lives as who they are, free to pursue their dreams and fulfil their potential, safe in the knowledge that their fundamental
rights will be protected.
“That is at the heart of what it means to be a Liberal Democrat, and that’s why Dylan should feel fully at home in our party.”
He continued: “The Lib Dems are growing fast, both locally and nationally. Nationwide there are now more Lib Dem MPs than there have been for more than a century, and more MPs here in Devon are from the Lib Dems than from any other party.
“On top of that, at the local elections a fortnight ago the Liberal Democrats won more council seats and control of more councils than either Labour or the Conservatives.
“Looking at what is happening more widely, with the Government scrapping winter fuel payments to over 10 million pensioners as well as cutting benefits to disabled people, it is no surprise that more and more people are turning to the Liberal Democrats. I would encourage them to follow Dylan’s lead and join us.”
Speaking to The Guardian following his resignation at the time, Tippetts said it was Labour’s response to the Supreme Court ruling which finally convinced him to step away from the party, after previously feeling concern over the alleged halting of plans to update the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) and comments by health secretary Wes Streeting regarding trans healthcare.
“The government had the chance to consider updating equalities legislation that is clearly out of date, but instead they simply agreed with the ruling and the EHRC guidance and started rolling back on statements like ‘trans women are women’,” Tippetts told the publication.
“Our prime minister is a human rights lawyer and he should be nothing short of embarrassed that people in this country feel the need to take his government to the European court of human rights over what’s happening.
“I thought this level of erosion of trans rights would only happen in Trump’s America.”
Initially Tippetts planned to sit as an independent councillor and said he will not seek reelection.
At the time of his resignation, a spokesperson for Plymouth Labour said the group was “very disappointed” Tippetts took the decision to resign.
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