Green Party candidate says sex change is not an election issue

A TRANSSEXUAL candidate fighting for an Edinburgh seat in the General Election today said she hoped voters would not put her sex change on the political agenda.

Ailsa Spindler, a keen canoeist and hot air balloonist, is standing as the Green Party candidate for Edinburgh West.

Miss Spindler, a project manager, began living as a woman after her marriage crumbled seven years ago when she revealed her desire to change sex.

The 47-year-old, who was formerly known as Austin and fathered two children , today said:

"My experience of life as a whole, of discrimination and of dealing with hostility, all help me to understand people and to represent them.

"But I don’t want to run a personal campaign- it’s much too easy to personalise things."