A message to every trans member who has left the Labour Party over the last few years:

I've seen a lot of last minute appeals from various factions for people to rejoin the Party before midnight tonight, to vote for their slates in the NEC elections.

As an openly trans candidate the tactical significance of this deadline does occur to me. I know a lot of good people, including some of my closest friends, who have left the party in despair this year. On a deeply personal level I'd love to see you come back.

A trans-positive NEC feels to me like our last chance to turn around our Party's lacklustre complaints and equalities processes, and to ensure that we don't get transphobic dogwhistles slipped into our next election manifesto.

There are the political reasons why I'd want you to rejoin - not only to nominate and vote for me, but also for other trans-positive candidates. Anyone willing to commit not only to pledges, but also to taking action in rooting out transphobia from within our Party.

But I know first hand the hurt and betrayal you will have felt over the last few months. The vindictiveness of the PLP, the silence of the leadership, and the slow boil of our lives and our rights being seen as matters up for public debate.

You don't owe me or your former Party anything. I understand if you are 110% done with that noise. I won't pretend that one move heave will get us there, when a much longer slog is called for. I'm not going to play an easy narrative to win your membership or your vote.

If the will to rejoin returns to your heart, do it in 2022. If I'm elected I want to make our Party safe for you again, but I would never expect to cash that promise in advance. If I lose, the blame lies fully on me, not on what might have been.

And if I win and I succeed, well political life expectancy for trans women is about 2 years, so I'm sure I'll be on the way out by then. In 2022 you can back the next generation of trans socialists, and I can go back to my books.

Have a lovely Sunday.