Green Party candidate criticised for ‘only wanting to represent those who agree with her’

Martin Shipton

A Green Party Senedd candidate has been accused of only wanting to represent “her community” following a row with a gender critical women’s rights group.

Tessa Marshall is number two on the Greens’ candidates list in Caerdydd Penarth, behind Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter. Some polls have suggested she is likely to win a Senedd seat.

Responding to an email from a member of the Women’s Rights Network Wales who raised concerns about the Green Party’s policy of allowing trans women to access single sex women’s spaces, Ms Marshall stated: “I believe I answered your questions in full. If I’m elected I will be representing my community – ie the LGBTQIA+ and feminist communities which make up the majority of Cardiff and the Vale, and not the homophobic, transphobic and misogynistic community which Women’s Rights Network Wales represent.”

The organisation posted a message on its X account that said: “Tessa Marshall, the Green Party candidate for Caerdydd Penarth, will refuse to represent the interests of any constituent who doesn’t share her views.

“She also doesn’t hold back on what she thinks about anyone who believes in privacy, dignity, fairness and safety.”

Cathy Larkman of the Wales Women’s Rights Network said: “We are really disappointed to see this level of vitriol directed at women in Wales. And to see it from someone who is likely to actually gain a seat in the Senedd.

“Should Tessa be elected, she’ll discover that representation is a privilege and a duty, not a favour to be meted out to those in ‘her community’. She might like to read up on the Public Sector Equality Duty.

“The Supreme Court judgment of 16th April 2025 clarified the law on single-sex spaces. Tessa’s ignorance on this and her apparent willingness to disregard the rights of women and girls are unfortunately shared widely within the Green Party.

“These are not good signs for the women and girls of Wales.”

During an interview at the Wales Green Party’s annual conference in November 2025, Ms Marshall said last year’s Supreme Court ruling that the word woman in the Equality Act 2010 means a biological woman was “a very slippery slope towards fascism”.

‘Challenging’

Asked about the current social climate as it affected people who talk about the kind of issues she does, she said: “It’s challenging. It’s something I think you have to expect, I think, if you’re going to talk about being queer or being disabled or being a woman, you’re going to get blowback because people do not like it. Those Reform bots, they really do not like it when you talk about your lived experience.

“I think it’s really important that we keep doing it, because at the end of the day we live in a community. We are people who live in Wales and these issues that we face – the increase in hate crime, not only just against queer people, but against disabled people, the increase in the cost of living, the cuts to welfare – all of these things are really creating a systematic kind of onslaught against people who are disabled, and people who are queer.”

Referring to last year’s Supreme Court ruling, Ms Marshall said: “We’ve seen the Supreme Court come out with an anti-trans ruling which seeks to exclude trans people from public life. We have to speak about this because this doesn’t just impact on trans people – this will impact women, this will impact non-binary people, this will impact intersex people, and effectively it is trying to exclude people from public life on the basis of who they are, which is a very slippery slope towards fascism.

“So I think it’s really important that we talk about that and we refuse to be silent. We’re going to be visible. I’m going to be visible. I’m not going to stop talking about it. People can say whatever they want – I’m not going to stop talking about it.”