Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy admitted a row over transgender rights with JK Rowling "breaks my heart".

The shadow worldwide improvement secretary revealed she is re-reading Harry Potter together with her eight-year-old son after the writer branded her "one of the biggest reasons many women on the Left no longer trust Labour”.

But Ms Nandy insisted women can trust Labour as she defended her staunch support for trans rights.

Asked at a press gallery lunch with journalists in Westminster if women can trust Labour, the Wigan MP said: "Yes, look, they will.

"It breaks my heart actually, we're re-reading Harry Potter at the moment in my house with an eight-year-old who is absolutely Harry Potter obsessed.

"And I do not assume we should always find yourself in an oppositional relationship the place we're speaking about a number of the most marginalised, discriminated in opposition to ladies and ladies on the planet and we won't have that debate as a result of there is a real dialog available in regards to the rights of transgender folks and the safety of secure areas and hard-fought rights for girls.

"The reason that I and others have taken a very strong stance on the treatment of transgender people is because we're talking about one of the most discriminated against groups of human beings in our country.

"And I genuinely assume after I have a look at the way in which the talk is carried out, the way in which that a lot of that is primarily based on concern and creating concern a few group of people who find themselves having a really, very powerful time, who usually have lack of entry to therapy and assist for years and years on finish.

"I think when we look at the way we reduce the debate to things like bodily parts, I think when we look back in history we will be utterly ashamed of ourselves."

JK Rowling final month hit out at Ms Nandy after she took to social media to share a clip of a part of her speech to the Labour convention talking about ladies's rights.

The writer highlighted how she beforehand backed sending trans girl rapists to feminine prisons and signed a pledge card describing a ladies's rights group as a “trans-exclusionist hate group”.

JK Rowling - who has come underneath assault from trans activists for her place on ladies's rights - stated: "You said rapists should be transferred to women’s prisons if they self-identify as women. You called Woman’s Place UK a hate group.

“Given that you’re one of the biggest reasons many women on the Left no longer trust Labour to defend their rights, do you stand by these comments?”

It comes after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in July said a woman is an "grownup feminine" having previously said 99 per cent of women "have not bought a penis".