Labour has pushed back a planned statement on the status of transgender people in the party until after May’s local elections – after threats of mass resignations from anti-transgender campaigners. The UK’s Labour Party has faced a vicious battle over the past few months over the status of transgender women in the party.

After a surge in anti-trans rhetoric, a fringe group of women’s rights campaigners within the party led calls for transgender women to be banned from standing on Labour’s women-only shortlists for Parliament, which are used in a bid to boost the number of female MPs.

There has never been an openly trans MP, but vocal activists complain that women they refer to as “male-bodied transgenders” are taking away women’s places in politics.

The row was set to come to a head this month, as the party’s ruling National Executive Committee prepared to issue a policy statement rebuffing the activists’ demands and vowing to keep the party trans-inclusive. However, after PinkNews reported that a group of ‘radical feminist’ campaigners were planning a mass resignation, the decision appears to have been pushed back.

A Labour spokesperson told the BBC today that the issue would not now be discussed by the NEC until June at the earliest – which is after the upcoming local elections. Read more via PinkNews