Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been praised for how he handled questions about transgender issues from former News of the World editor Piers Morgan.

Polanski, who was elected leader of the England and Wales Greens in a landslide victory last month, after campaigning on a pro-trans, eco-populism platform, appeared on YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored where he was asked whether a woman can have a penis, a query seen by many as an anti-trans dog whistle.

“Yes,” he replied immediately, before taking a swipe at incredibly long NHS waiting times: “It’s going to take them a long time on the National Health Service to get rid of it but that’s another problem. I think we’ll leave it on a woman can have a penis.”

Recent figures have revealed that many people in the UK will have to wait for more than a third of their life time for an appointment with an NHS gender clinic.

But Polanski was unwilling to let it drop. “I think you’re lacking nuance and complexity about a pretty complicated conversation,” he said, and when Morgan responded by saying: “I asked a simple question,” the Greens leader added: “But you’re laughing at it, which I think demeans trans people.

“Why are you punching down?”

“What have you got against trans people? Why are you punching down? Why are you not saying the real problem? It sounds like you have a huge problem with trans people.”

Morgan replied: “It sounds to me like you don’t understand what a woman is, which I think is a huge problem for someone leading a party in this country.”

The back-and-forth continued with Morgan predicting there “is not a cat in hell’s chance of [Polanski] ever becoming prime minister if you don’t know what a woman is”.

In turn, Polanski pointed to the Green Party’s surge in the polls, particularly in London, with membership passing 100,000 for the first time.

“Why don’t you go out tomorrow with your big campaign that women can have penises,” Morgan urged sarcastically. “See how you get on, see how it plays out.”

Polanski accused the former Sun columnist of trying to divert attention from key issues related to equality but Morgan proceeded to say that he was entitled to ask a party what he believed, prompting the reply: “You’re absolutely entitled and people are entitled to see the absolute ludicrousness of these questions rather than tackling the inequality and the fact we’re not funding [the] health service.”

The average person in Britain is not concerned about debating trans lives but with key kitchen-table issues such as funding the NHS and improving the quality of schools, Polanski added.

But Morgan persisted, saying: “Actually, they’re worried about women’s rights.”

Polanski replied: “I’m worried about women’s rights too. I offered several times to talk about the police force, I offered several times to talk about the inequality pay gap. Let’s have a conversation about women’s rights but let’s not talk about trans women specifically.”

Rather like a dog with a bone, Morgan repeated: “You said women have penises,” to which Polanski replied: “If a woman is transitioning, then they can have a penis.”

Morgan described that answer as bulls**t.

“Since when were you a doctor or an expert in women’s rights or UK science?” Polanski asked.

In response, Morgan quoted the UK Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year which defined the protected characteristic of sex in the 2010 Equality Act as referring to biology and the word “woman” as a “biological woman”.

Polanski’s response to the grilling has been praised with people online describing him as “refreshing” and “willing to go to bat for marginalised people”.

On Bluesky, people pointed out that it seemed Morgan hadn’t heard of intersex people while others asked why trans issues would be in anyone’s top 50 topics to talk about.

Someone else said: “I love the way Zack stays calm while those on the losing side of the debate get angrier and angrier.” Another wrote: “Finally, a UK political party leader who emphatically recognises that gender is a spectrum [and] that transphobia is punching down on some of the most marginalised.”

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