The Norwich South MP, Clive Lewis, has explained to an audience at the University of East Anglia (UEA) why he did not vote to give transgender people more rights in Scotland.

At a Q&A session, Mr Lewis insisted he was as an ally of the trans community.

The new law proposed by the Scottish government was designed to make it simpler for transgender people to apply for a gender recognition certificate in Scotland.

However, the law was vetoed by the UK government, in a vote from which the Labour MP abstained.

Serene Shibli Sexton, the campaigns and democracy officer at the UEA Student Union, asked Mr Lewis why he abstained from such an important vote.

“People like me, who have trans friends, who didn’t vote in that, [it] was not because we don’t care about trans rights, but because it was a procedural motion at the last minute,” Mr Lewis clarified.

The MP explained how he was not even in the room at the time of the debate, as he was attending another meeting.

Serene described the comments as “a reasonable explanation”, and that she was “not happy but satisfied”.

She added that they “will be happy when trans people aren’t used as political tools.”

Norwich has the second-highest proportion of people with a trans or non-binary gender identity, outside of London, according to statistics collected by the 2021 census.

Mr Lewis said that he wanted to assure people he was a trans friend.

He told the audience, “I like to think I’ve got your back.”