Women’s Minister blasted for claiming that women-only spaces should include men

The Minister for Women and Equalities has come under fire for claiming that men who identify as women should be allowed in female-only spaces.

In a submission to the Good Law Project’s court case challenging the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) interim guidance on single-sex spaces, Bridget Phillipson branded it “trans-exclusive” and claimed that it would prevent mothers from taking their young sons into changing rooms.

The EHRC’s proposed final version of the guidance, which was written following the Supreme Court’s ruling that ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex, has been awaiting Phillipson’s approval for more than three months.

‘Faulty view’

In a court transcript seen by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Justice Swift told the Minister that her comments were “inconsistent with the legislation” and were “trying to rewrite” the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Maya Forstater, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of women’s group Sex Matters, called it a “gravely concerning situation”.

“For the past 15 years public bodies and regulators have got the law wrong. Now the Minister for Women and Equalities seems to be backing a legal interpretation based on the same faulty view. If the legal arguments put forward reflect current thinking among ministers, the decision to delay the EHRC guidance is about more than timing.”

‘Politically motivated’

Associate Editor of The Daily Telegraph Camilla Tominey warned that if the delay is “politically motivated”, it represents “a deeply cynical calculation: subordinating legal clarity and women’s rights to internal party management”.

In response, a Government spokesman said: “The EHRC has submitted a draft code of practice to ministers, and we are working at pace to review it with the care it deserves. This is a 300-page-long, legally complex document and it is important for service providers that we get this right.”

“We have always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex and we expect everyone to uphold the law and follow the clarity that the Supreme Court ruling provides.”

Pressure

Earlier this month, former EHRC Chairwoman Baroness Falkner criticised the Government for delaying approval of the guidance, suggesting that “they’re terrified of their MPs who would wish for trans self-identification or trans inclusion to prevail across all areas of society”.

Lady Falkner also suggested that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and many of his allies “believed that accommodating vulnerable trans people was more important than protecting the interests of vulnerable women”.

Without the guidance in place, she warned that the public and institutions are left in a “grey zone”, adding that her greatest concern “is that it’s very distressing for trans people”.