Police were “wrong” to record a non-crime hate incident against Tory deputy chairman Rachel Maclean after she was accused of sharing transphobic remarks, a Government minister said on Tuesday.
Lee Rowley, housing minister, told Times Radio: “Rachel’s a personal friend. And what Rachel was saying was that there is a biological sex and it’s absolutely the case and it’s appropriate to be able to talk about that.
“And I think the....police were wrong to record it as a non-crime hate incident, on a personal level. We have to be able to have these conversations.”
But he was pressed by presenter Aasmah Mir: “Is it possible to have them politely though? ‘A man in a wig’ is not polite.”
Mr Rowley responded: “I don’t think Rachel wrote that. Rachel wrote she knew what a woman was. But fundamentally, this country needs to be able to have these conversations. These conversations don’t just go away because people try to shush them.”
Officers in the West Midlands recorded a ‘hate incident’ against former Home Office minister Mrs Maclean after she shared a post that described a trans woman as a ‘man in a wig’.
West Mercia Police put the Redditch MP’s remarks on file following a complaint about her language by Melissa Poulton, who is standing as a Green Party candidate at the next election.
It was reported that officers considered Mrs Maclean’s remarks met the threshold for a ‘Non Crime Hate Incident’ because she is a public figure with a large number of followers on social media.
But she dispute the decision and is seeking to appeal.
She tweeted: “Our local police are exceptionally good.
"However, they have recorded a non-crime hate incident against me which I am challenging. As a former Home Office minister, I was involved in changing rules to bring in common sense and proportionality.
"Originally, NCHIs were introduced in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence case and were used as intelligence-gathering tools. It seems wrong and ridiculous to use the same tool to record that a woman said a biological man cannot become a biological woman or a lesbian.
"NCHIs have since been widened to cover any protected characteristic. It stretches credibility to believe gender critical women are in the same category as racist murderers when it comes to police data.”
People found to have committed NCHIs do not get criminal records, however, their personal information can be kept on police files in serious cases and might be disclosed during vetting if they apply for sensitive jobs.
Mrs Maclean has taken down the post and apologised for any offence caused to Ms Poulton.
Campaigner Peter Tatchell told GB News: "Melissa was actually trying to support women's rights and get more women MPs, which is a very honourable thing to do."
