Kemi Badenoch's Conservative Party has written to every Tory council in the country urging them to implement new rules protecting single-sex spaces without delay. The letter, sent to Conservative council leaders and Tory group leaders on August 7, calls for rapid compliance with new equality watchdog guidance.
Referring to April 2025's Supreme Court ruling on biological sex, Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake wrote in the letter: "We are asking all Conservative-run councils to ensure the facilities they provide or oversee comply with the law in this area." He added: "As a party, we believe in protecting the rights of women and girls to access single-sex spaces and services, and we strongly support full and rapid compliance with this ruling by all local authorities and service providers."
The directive follows the official launch of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Code of Practice, which came into force this week, almost a year-and-a-half after the landmark Supreme Court judgment. The guidance states that service providers are legally required to enforce single-sex spaces on the basis of biological sex, rather than gender identity, applying to shops, gyms, councils, government departments, the NHS, policing, prisons, hotels and restaurants.
Council Opposition to EHRC Guidance
Leaders of six London boroughs, Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Southwark, Hackney, Haringey and Lewisham, have said they could resist the EHRC guidance after warning it is "harmful to the rights of trans people."
In an open letter to Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson, the councils made a joint commitment to keep their services "inclusive" and said "trans women are women, trans men are men." They added: "This will feel like an attack to the countless trans people in our communities who are simply trying to live their lives in safety and wish to be treated with respect."
In response, Hollinrake told the Mail: "It is pathetic that Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green politicians are putting political posturing ahead of the safety of women and girls in the councils they run."
Hollinrake added: "It is reckless and dangerous and they should hang their heads in shame. Only the Conservatives will ensure that every council under our control fully complies with the law to protect single-sex spaces and safeguard women and girls."
Political Dispute Within the Labour Party
The guidance has also prompted a war of words between Labour women. Derbyshire Labour MP Samantha Niblett, who launched a "summer of sex" campaign, criticized the EHRC code in a video filmed from her holiday sun lounger, describing the guidance as "clear as mud."
Niblett added: "All it does is dismiss the lived experience of trans people and protects nobody." She said future generations would think "how rubbish politicians were" when looking at the trans debate, claiming that Westminster had failed a minority group.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi hit back, telling Niblett: "Today, we have clarification, not more confusion. Women and girls need protection from men." Referring to Niblett's campaign suggesting that MPs bring sex toys into Parliament, Antoniazzi added: "Stop using trans people as an argument for your pro-sex work, pro-porn agenda."
A Government spokesman said: "Everyone should follow the law. The code gives service providers the clear, workable guidance they need and if organisations are still unclear, they should get specialist legal advice."
