No 10 distances PM from minister’s past support for gender neutral toilets

Downing Street has distanced the Prime Minister from his new health minister’s past support for gender neutral toilets.

Ashley Dalton was appointed a health and social care minister after Andrew Gwynne left the Government when derogatory remarks he made in a WhatsApp group came to light.

Ms Dalton, the Labour MP for West Lancashire, said in a Twitter exchange in 2016 that “we shouldn’t have gendered bathrooms at all”.

In another social media exchange in the same year – before she was an MP – Ms Dalton signalled her support for gender self-identification.

And asked if people should take someone seriously were they to identify as a llama, Ms Dalton signalled they should do so with “dignity and respect”, in an exchange which appears to have since been deleted.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman sought to distance Sir Keir Starmer from the past remarks of the new minister.

“I can’t speak to comments made by people prior to prior to being in Government,” he said when asked about the social media posts.

Asked if Ms Dalton’s position on single sex toilets reflected Government policy, the spokesman replied: “No, the position remains clear. The PM has been clear before that single sex spaces will and should be protected.”

No 10 said Sir Keir makes all ministerial appointments “based on merit” and suggested Ms Dalton had demonstrated relevant experience and skills needed to take on the role of health minister.

Prior to serving in Government, the West Lancashire MP was the shadow women and equalities minister when Labour was still in opposition.

She was elected to Parliament in 2023 in the West Lancashire by-election, succeeding long-serving Labour MP Rosie Cooper.

Labour dropped a pledge to introduce gender self-identification for trans people without a medical diagnosis in 2023, after it had previously promised to do so.

At the time, the party said medical diagnosis helped to uphold confidence in the system of gender identification.