Tories plan to amend Equality Act to protect single-sex spaces
Edward Malnick
Sat, 16 March 2024
Rishi Sunak pledged in leadership contest that he would 'ensure that the Equality Act is clear that sex means biological sex' - STEFAN ROUSSEAU/AFP
The Conservatives are preparing to revive Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to overhaul New Labour’s equality laws, in an effort to protect single-sex spaces and women’s sports.
Senior government figures are considering a manifesto commitment to amend the Equality Act, which the Prime Minister previously said had become a “trojan horse” for “woke nonsense”.
The commitment would include an amendment to the 2010 Equality Act, passed while Gordon Brown was prime minister, “to make it unambiguously clear that sex means biological sex,” said a source familiar with the discussions. Such a move would “remove the current vagueness which is exploited to undermine women’s rights, security and competition in sport”.
It would mean sex being defined by someone’s biological sex rather than their affirmed, or “acquired” gender, making it easier to bar those born as men from women-only spaces and female sporting events.
It could also include a wider review of the legislation, which Mr Sunak said during his 2022 leadership campaign was used to “engage in social engineering to which no one has given consent.”
Senior Tories see the issue as a potentially major dividing line with Labour in the election campaign expected later this year. However it is also a source of tension within the Conservative Party. During the 2022 leadership contest Penny Mordaunt, now the Leader of the Commons, came under fire for previously stating that “trans men are men, trans women are women”.
On Friday, Liz Truss, the former prime minister, and Kemi Badenoch, the Minister for Women and Equalities, accused Labour MPs of using arcane parliamentary procedure to block a Private Member’s Bill drawn up by Ms Truss to ban puberty blockers, protect single-sex spaces and prevent teachers from helping a child change gender.
But Labour MPs talked so long in a debate about separate legislation earlier in the day that there was no time left to debate Ms Truss’s Bill. It is now unlikely that there will be an opportunity for Parliament to debate her Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill.
Liz Truss's Private Member's Bill would ban puberty blockers, protect single-sex spaces and prevent teachers from helping a child change gender
Last week, in an interview with The Telegraph, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), called for the Equality Act to be updated to clarify the balance between trans and women’s rights. Currently the country is reliant on court rulings, sometimes by “activist judges”, to clarify the law, she said. In the latest case, the Supreme Court has been asked to rule on whether the Scottish Government was right to include trans women in its official definition of women.
Lady Falkner said: “There are easier ways to do things and I think sometimes Parliament does have to assert its own primacy in terms of the legislation that it has passed.”
The intervention came after Mrs Badenoch wrote to the EHRC last year, asking for advice on changing the wording of the Equality Act to specify that it protects “biological sex” rather than “sex”.
The EHRC, which is responsible for policing the legislation, said that such a change would “bring legal clarity” in eight areas, including sports and single-sex areas.
Currently, the equalities legislation states that people can be protected on the basis of their “sex”, but some have since interpreted this to mean the gender someone identifies as rather than their biological sex.
It has caused confusion over whether transgender women can be barred from participating in women’s sports or entering female-only spaces such as hospital wards, changing rooms and rape refuges.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission
- PAUL GROVER FOR THE TELEGRAPH
Ms Truss had said that her Bill – which was due to receive its second reading on Friday – would ensure that single-sex spaces like school toilets remain “sacrosanct” for girls and women.
After the time for debate effectively timed out, Mrs Badenoch tweeted: “Just now Labour MPs prevented debate on a new law to prevent children and single sex spaces. Instead they used parliamentary time to discuss ferret name choices.
“Keir Starmer is terrified of debate on safeguarding and his MPs actively work to ignore the concerns of constituents.”
Ministers are said to want to wait until the resolution of the Supreme Court case before acting themselves. But discussions are now being held about including a pledge to amend the Equality Act in the Conservatives’ general election manifesto, including the extent to which such a pledge could include defining sex as biological sex.
Government sources said Mrs Badenoch was among those who recognised that “if we can’t do it in this Parliament it is something that many MPs want to see in our next manifesto”.
‘Clarity to all laws’
During the summer 2022 leadership contest, Mr Sunak’s pledged that he would “ensure that the Equality Act is clear that sex means biological sex” and “apply the same clarity to all laws that refer to mothers and fathers, or to pregnancy and sex discrimination, or which protect people’s bodily privacy and dignity, such as when being searched by the police”.
Mr Sunak said at the time: “Too often, existing legislation is used to engage in social engineering to which no one has given consent. The worst offender in this regard is the 2010 Equality Act, conceived in the dog days of the last Labour government.
“It has been a Trojan horse that has allowed every kind of woke nonsense to permeate public life. It must stop. My government would review the Act to ensure we keep legitimate protections while stopping mission creep.
“Our laws must protect free speech, block biological men from competing in women’s sport and ensure that children are allowed to be children.”
In December, Mrs Badenoch told Ms Truss: “I certainly support any effort to clarify the law, and we should start from first principles. No child is born in the wrong body, and no child should be put on a pathway towards irreversible medical transition. I am also conscious that it will take time to amend law, and I am therefore focusing on what will work for now.”
Ms Truss had said that her Bill – which was due to receive its second reading on Friday – would ensure that single-sex spaces like school toilets remain “sacrosanct” for girls and women.
After the time for debate effectively timed out, Mrs Badenoch tweeted: “Just now Labour MPs prevented debate on a new law to prevent children and single sex spaces. Instead they used parliamentary time to discuss ferret name choices.
“Keir Starmer is terrified of debate on safeguarding and his MPs actively work to ignore the concerns of constituents.”
Ministers are said to want to wait until the resolution of the Supreme Court case before acting themselves. But discussions are now being held about including a pledge to amend the Equality Act in the Conservatives’ general election manifesto, including the extent to which such a pledge could include defining sex as biological sex.
Government sources said Mrs Badenoch was among those who recognised that “if we can’t do it in this Parliament it is something that many MPs want to see in our next manifesto”.
‘Clarity to all laws’
During the summer 2022 leadership contest, Mr Sunak’s pledged that he would “ensure that the Equality Act is clear that sex means biological sex” and “apply the same clarity to all laws that refer to mothers and fathers, or to pregnancy and sex discrimination, or which protect people’s bodily privacy and dignity, such as when being searched by the police”.
Mr Sunak said at the time: “Too often, existing legislation is used to engage in social engineering to which no one has given consent. The worst offender in this regard is the 2010 Equality Act, conceived in the dog days of the last Labour government.
“It has been a Trojan horse that has allowed every kind of woke nonsense to permeate public life. It must stop. My government would review the Act to ensure we keep legitimate protections while stopping mission creep.
“Our laws must protect free speech, block biological men from competing in women’s sport and ensure that children are allowed to be children.”
In December, Mrs Badenoch told Ms Truss: “I certainly support any effort to clarify the law, and we should start from first principles. No child is born in the wrong body, and no child should be put on a pathway towards irreversible medical transition. I am also conscious that it will take time to amend law, and I am therefore focusing on what will work for now.”
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