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Bridget Phillipson has been accused of parroting the transgender lobby in her statement to a High Court case seeking to overturn new protections for women-only spaces.
The Equalities Minister described proposed guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on trans people using single-sex spaces as ‘trans-exclusive’.
It comes as Ms Phillipson faces accusations that she is blocking the human rights watchdog’s guidance after she failed to sign it off for more than three months.
The guidance - drawn up following April’s landmark Supreme Court ruling - will ensure that gyms, clubs and hospitals enforce single-sex spaces based on biology in order to comply with the law. It requires ministerial approval before it can become statutory.
Now the Equalities Minister has submitted a statement to a High Court case being brought by a campaign group that argues biological men should be able to use women’s toilets.
Women’s rights groups have accused Ms Phillipson of repeating talking points from trans activists in her submission to the court.
In it, Ms Phillipson suggests that banning trans women from women-only spaces would mean biological women can’t take their ‘infant sons’ into changing rooms.
This was the same argument made by a prominent trans activist and barrister in an interview with BBC Women’s Hour following the Supreme Court ruling.
Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson has been accused of parroting the transgender lobby in her statement to a High Court case seeking to overturn new protections for women-only spaces
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has criticised Ms Phillipson, adding that 'perhaps children should be protected from Labour'
Robin Moira White told the broadcaster: ‘I have a barrister friend with relatively young children. So can she now not take the young male children into the female facilities when she's at the cinema, or the beach or the supermarket?
‘And if she can, why are they allowed to be accommodated, and not a trans person who transitioned 20 years ago?’
However the EHRC’s draft guidance, which has been withdrawn pending the approval of the final version, expressly says that this would not be a problem
It stated that ‘a woman is allowed to take her male child under the age of ten into the women’s changing room’ because ‘it is unlikely that young boys pose a threat to women’s safety’.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, said she is ‘dismayed’ to see lawyers for Ms Phillipson ‘echoing legally flawed and partisan arguments made by transactivist groups’.
She said: ‘If the legal arguments put forward reflect current thinking among ministers, the decision to delay the EHRC guidance is about more than timing. We are in a gravely concerning situation.’
Harry Potter author JK Rowling also slammed Ms Phillipson, posting on X: ‘As you’re fighting to remove our daughters’ rights to the privacy and safety of single-sex bathrooms and changing rooms, while poised to allow the unethical puberty blockers trial, perhaps children should be protected from Labour.’
And former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies branded Ms Phillipson ‘cowardly’, adding: ‘This Government’s fear of its activists backbenchers is shocking.’
Ms Phillipson’s opposition to the EHRC guidelines is made clear in her High Court submission as an interested party in a case being brought by the Good Law Project, which is challenging the interim EHRC guidance published earlier this year.
Women’s rights groups point out that Ms Phillipson’s statement suggests that single-sex exceptions may not apply to men’s and women’s toilets, an argument that has been put forward by pro-trans groups including TransActual and Gendered Intelligence.
During a hearing in the case last month, the judge also noted that Ms Phillipson’s KC appeared to be ‘trying to rewrite’ the Supreme Court judgment in submissions on behalf of the minister.
A ruling on the case is imminent and there are growing fears that if the Good Law Project wins, Ms Phillipson could tell the EHRC to weaken protections for women-only spaces.
A Government spokesman insisted she was not blocking the guidance but simply wanted to ensure that the ‘complex’ issues were legally sound.
The spokesman added: ‘It would be catastrophic for single sex-services to follow guidance that wasn’t legally sound and then place them in legal jeopardy again. That is why it is vital we get this right.’
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