It’s Time to Fight for the Soul of the Labour Party

The Labour Party has always claimed to stand for equality, dignity, and working-class solidarity. For so many of us, that promise once felt real. From repealing Section 28 to the Gender Recognition Act, Labour has often stood – if imperfectly – on the right side of progress. But today, it’s silent and complicit on the erosion of inter alia trans rights, marking a fundamental departure from the values it was founded on. This isn’t a momentary wobble. It’s a betrayal.

Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour Party has made calculated decisions to retreat from its commitments to LGBTQ+ liberation, especially when it comes to the rights and dignity of the trans community. We are hearing evasive language about “balancing rights”, as if equality were a zero-sum game and trans people’s existence is a problem to be managed.

This has real, devastating consequences. Trans people being vilified in the press, denied healthcare, targeted in legislation, and driven to crisis. In the face of this, political silence is not neutral – it becomes complicity by omission. When politicians refuse to speak out, it sends a signal that trans lives are negotiable. That silence feeds the very forces putting trans people in danger.

Rather than challenging the right-wing moral panic, Labour has opted to echo its framing. Where we need leadership, we are met with silence. Where we need courage, we see cowardice. And in doing so, Labour lends legitimacy to a culture war designed to distract, divide, and destroy. This is not neutrality. It’s complicity. This is not the Labour Party we built – not the one that marched at Pride, nor the one where trade unionists stood shoulder to shoulder with LGBTQ+ communities.

Asking whether the Labour Party is institutionally transphobic is a vital and uncomfortable question. The honest answer is, no – not inherently – but right now, it’s acting like it. But we need to remember that political parties are more than just their leaders. The Labour Party, for example, is a movement made up of countless activists, councillors, and members across the country who believe in the values of equality, dignity, and justice.

It is fair – and necessary – to call the party, as it currently stands, transphobic. But it is equally important to recognise that not every Labour MP, councillor, or activist is complicit in that. In fact, many have spoken out – forcefully and courageously – against the party’s direction on trans rights. They are just as angry and just as determined to change it. But across the country, queer members, allies, trade unionists, and local party groups are organising – challenging injustice, tabling motions, holding their MPs to account, and demanding a party that lives up to its founding values. This fight isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now, in meetings and motions and marches. And every voice matters. If you’re angry, you’re not alone. If you feel betrayed, you’re not imagining it. But anger must be used as fuel – and with it, we can, and will, force change from the inside.

Fighting from within the Labour Party matters. Not because the leadership deserves our loyalty, but because change doesn’t come from the top. It starts at the grassroots. It starts in CLP meetings, in union branches, in the conversations that challenge prejudice and shift culture. When we organise inside the party, we create pressure, yes – but we also create spaces for education, for solidarity, and for transformation. The internal fight builds movements that last. Walking away might feel cleaner but staying and fighting forces the party to confront itself – and that’s where change begins.

The truth we must confront is this: Labour will likely be in government for at least the next four years. If the current polls are to be trusted, the only alternative now is the hard-right party led by Nigel Farage. The thought of him being Prime Minister should send shivers down your spine. We have a choice to either stay silent while Labour drifts further away from its values, or organise, fight back, and reclaim the soul of our party. Reform UK will take us on a road that leads to fascism. We must fight that as hard as we possibly can.

Illustration by Will Allen/Europinion