Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson is facing intense criticism after being accused of parroting arguments from transgender activist groups in a High Court case. The case seeks to overturn new protections designed to safeguard women-only spaces such as changing rooms, toilets, and hospital wards.
Minister's Court Submission Sparks Fury
In a statement submitted to the High Court, Ms Phillipson described proposed statutory guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as ‘trans-exclusive’. The guidance, drawn up after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in April, is intended to ensure that gyms, clubs, and hospitals enforce single-sex spaces based on biological sex to comply with the law.
The Minister has also been accused of blocking this crucial guidance, having failed to sign it off for over three months. The guidance requires ministerial approval before it can become statutory, leaving it in limbo.
Repeating Activist Talking Points
In her court submission, Ms Phillipson suggested that banning transgender women from women-only spaces would mean biological women could not take their ‘infant sons’ into changing rooms. This argument was immediately highlighted as mirroring one made by prominent trans activist and barrister Robin Moira White in a BBC Women’s Hour interview following the Supreme Court ruling.
However, the EHRC’s own draft guidance expressly states this would not be a problem, clarifying that ‘a woman is allowed to take her male child under the age of ten into the women’s changing room’ because young boys are unlikely to pose a threat.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of the campaign group Sex Matters, said she was ‘dismayed’ to see the minister’s lawyers ‘echoing legally flawed and partisan arguments made by transactivist groups’.
Growing Backlash and Legal Stakes
The backlash has been swift and severe. Author JK Rowling criticised Ms Phillipson on social media platform X, stating: ‘As you’re fighting to remove our daughters’ rights to the privacy and safety of single-sex bathrooms and changing rooms... perhaps children should be protected from Labour.’
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies branded the minister ‘cowardly’, accusing the government of fearing its activist backbenchers. The High Court case itself is being brought by the Good Law Project, which is challenging interim EHRC guidance.
During a hearing last month, the judge noted that Ms Phillipson’s barrister appeared to be ‘trying to rewrite’ the Supreme Court judgment in submissions. A ruling is imminent, and there are significant fears that if the challenge succeeds, Ms Phillipson could instruct the EHRC to weaken protections for single-sex services.
A Government spokesman insisted the minister was not blocking the guidance but wanted to ensure the ‘complex’ issues were legally sound. They warned it would be ‘catastrophic’ for services to follow guidance that was not legally robust, potentially placing them back in legal jeopardy.
