Green MP Hannah Spencer targeted by anti-trans activists after Manchester rally speech

Green MP Hannah Spencer was escorted away by police after being confronted by anti-trans activists in Manchester city centre following an anti-far right event.

Spencer, the MP for Gorton and Denton, had been speaking at the launch of Together Alliance in Piccadilly Gardens yesterday (8 March), which also marked International Women’s Day.

After the speech, Spencer walked through Piccadilly Gardens where she was approached by activists questioning her views on transgender rights. Video shared on social media shows two men following her while holding placards reading “There’s No Such Thing As A Transgender Child” and “Keep Men Out Of Women’s Spaces”. 

Amid the disruption, Hannah Spencer was taken to a waiting police vehicle and driven away from the scene

In the footage, one man can be heard asking: “Can men give birth?”

🚨 WATCH: Green MP Hannah Spencer is forced into a police car after anti-trans protesters fight in front of her in Manchester pic.twitter.com/QRHg6XnzRq

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 8, 2026

Another voice asks: “Can a woman have a penis, Hannah?”

Arguments broke out among people in the crowd as Spencer attempted to leave the area. Supporters and volunteers wearing high-visibility jackets tried to separate those involved, but several confrontations followed and punches were reportedly thrown during at least two separate altercations. Officers from Greater Manchester Police intervened to separate groups and issued verbal warnings as tensions escalated. 

Amid the disruption, Spencer was taken to a waiting police vehicle and driven away from the scene.

Spencer was elected to Parliament in February after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election with 40.7 per cent of the vote, defeating Reform UK’s Matthew Goodwin and Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia. The result overturned a seat Labour had held since 1931 and marked the Green Party’s first ever parliamentary by-election victory. 

“Hannah won’t be silenced and will continue to speak up for the communities that she has been elected to represent” – Green Party spokesperson

Following the incident in Manchester, a spokesperson for the Green Party said the confrontation had been caused by “a few angry men” attempting to “spread anti-trans bigotry”.

“Hannah was talking today in Manchester about community cohesion and unity,” the representative said. “A few angry men, attempting to spread anti-trans bigotry, chose this moment to try to silence and harass Hannah.

“There is a bitter irony that today, on International Women’s Day, these few men claiming to ‘protect women’ behaved like this towards parliament’s newest female MP, chasing her to a police car.

“Worse still, some of the abuse faced by Hannah included the same misinformation and outright lies shared by her political opponents online. Hannah won’t be silenced and will continue to speak up for the communities that she has been elected to represent.”