ITV GMB's Richard Madeley asks Labour MP 'Can I conduct the interview?' in heated debate

host called out Labour MP Karin Smyth in a heated debate over the UK Supreme Court's landmark ruling over the definition of a woman. On Wednesday (April 17), the court unanimously ruled that transgender women are not legally recognised as women under the Equality Act, even those with Gender Recognition Certificates.

On Thursday (April 18), the 68-year-old and his co-host Charlotte Hawkins welcomed the Minister of State for Secondary Care onto the show to get her thoughts on the divisive political ruling. It didn't take long before the dad-of-two clashed with the politician who attempted to redirect his questions throughout the interview.

Talking about the practicalities of this development in the law, Richard asked if transgender women would be entitled to be treated in a female only ward or whether they would be segregated to the male ward because of the new legislation.

She replied: "Let's be clear, the Equality Act has been in place since 2010. What the judgement yesterday means is to clarify that sex means biological sex and that is what Parliament intended. So the law was the same yesterday as it was today.

"We've had clarity from the Supreme Court because of something the Scottish Government were trying to do in Scotland, that women there have taken them to court. The NHS will be treating people according to their clinical need.

"I think that compromise and working together is absolutely the order of the day going forward. The NHS going forward, and what I'm out today trying to talk about is our commitment to make sure that people - whatever their protected characteristics are, whoever they are - gets off those waiting lists, gets treatment closer to home -"

It was at this point that Richard interjected to bring the interview back to his original question. He explained: "Yes, can we come to that in [time]. I promise you, we will [get to it], I know that's what you're here to talk about."

Ms Smyth interrupted, arguing: "Well, that is what the general public are interested in. The public, I think, will welcome this judgement".

This was ultimately the last straw for Richard, who fumed: "I agree with you, they are, but can we conduct the interview? We will come to that point in a moment."

It didn't take long before fans flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their thoughts on the fiery debate online. One user fumed: "It has always been legislation. The only thing that's happened yesterday is that it has been clarified that when we say 'woman' we refer to biological sex, because the definition of woman has been hijacked, watered down and to even include meb by some, for years [eyes rolling emojis] #gmb."

Anther argued: "#GMB Single sex wards like this Supreme Court resolution are outdated 1950s nonsense. There are as many intersex people as there are redheads. What happens to them?"

A third countered: "She knows nothing, most wards are open bays, not single rooms and where there are single rooms they're for infectious patients and are in short supply with most 30 bed wards having only 2-4 side rooms #gmb."

Good Morning Britain airs on weekdays from 6am on ITV1 or catch up on ITVX.