The Liberal Democrats have been ordered to pay £14,000 to a former parliamentary candidate who claims to have been expelled from the party and banned from standing as an MP for her gender-critical views.
Natalie Bird was removed as a potential parliamentary candidate for Wakefield after she wore a top with the slogan “Woman: Adult Human Woman” to a party meeting.
Bird, from Stockport, said she was “treated like an evil witch and felt targeted” by a campaign of discrimination, Central London County Court heard on Wednesday.
He had sought compensation of £90,000 for injury to feelings for breach of his membership contract and his rights under the Equality Act.
Ms Bird brought a discrimination claim and representatives of the Liberal Democrat Party members had previously admitted the claim.
Bird had criticized the party’s policies online, but Judge Jane Evans-Gordon said there was “no evidence that Ms Bird’s views ever crossed the line and became transphobic or abusive”.
The court heard: “Ms Bird believes that sex and gender are separate. Her views are known as gender critical.
“She alleges that as a result she has suffered discrimination from the Liberal Democrats, which has caused her great pain.”
The judge said the level of compensation reflected the fact that the discrimination was not “a single or isolated incident and is likely to have had a significant impact on Ms Bird”.
He noted that Ms Bird was not prevented from returning to work, so the sum took into account the unfair process involved in her dismissal, but not her lack of progress in her political career.
The judge said any higher compensation could put her on a par with someone who had suffered scarring or permanent loss of vision and “it seems to me that the loss of sensation cannot be compared to the loss of an eye.”
The judge added: “Political parties have the right to elect candidates who support the party’s policies and remove those who do not agree with them.
“They cannot be expected to elect those who publicly disagree with and undermine party policy.”
Ms Bird said she was called “an illiberal Terf”, suspended from the Liberal Democrats and banned from standing as an MP for a decade.
Terf means trans-exclusive radical feminist.
Ms Bird wore the T-shirt with the words “Woman: Adult Human Woman” in the days after her nomination as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Wakefield in December 2018.
Shortly thereafter he received a letter suspending his membership and notifying him that a formal disciplinary hearing would be held against him for violating the party’s code of conduct.
Ms Bird did not see the suspension letter as she headed to a meeting of the Wakefield District Liberal Democrat Club, where she was turned away and told to leave.
She described this as “an extremely humiliating, embarrassing and disturbing experience.”
An offer of £40,000 was made to settle the case but was “never properly approached” by Ms Bird, the court heard. You will receive 90% of the costs that have not yet been set.
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