In recent years, far too many organisations adopted the incorrect interpretation of the law by activists who stated the ability to self-ID trumps the rights of women to single-sex spaces, services and associations, including same-sex gatherings. This was not the case and we ended up with a situation where women’s long-established rights - to privacy, safety, fairness and equality - were being eroded. This is something our Party Leader, Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP knew and, with others, took a stand for women everywhere. I don’t believe it was ever said the way to full equality is to erode women’s rights, safety and opportunities in sport, health and wellbeing.
I would like to pay tribute to all the women who have fought for their rights, and for their absolute right to speak out and be heard. I do also want to acknowledge those who still had to take legal action to have these legal rights upheld since the Supreme Court issued its common-sense judgement on sex over a year ago… I do greatly understand a lot of people have been very frustrated. There has been much anger and upset - that’s to be understood too.
Saying ‘trans-women are women’ was never true in fact and was simply not true in law; I do not believe that you can change your biological sex but you can, of course, identify as your chosen gender and have every right be happy and supported in this choice.
Please know that I firmly support rights for transgender people under the law and it is absolutely right that transgender people remain protected by the indirect discrimination provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (irrespective of whether they have a Gender Recognition Certificate). The Supreme Court’s judgement also importantly reaffirmed that trans people are also rightly protected from indirect discrimination where they are put at a particular disadvantage they share with members of their biological sex.
It is, frankly, extraordinary, with so much at stake, that the Minister for Women and Equalities chose to dither and delay on clarifying this issue for so long and then, on the 14th of April, announced she was further delaying publishing the EHRC Code of Practice until after the elections in May 2026, leaving service providers, including many public services, still without updated guidance after a year of waiting, reliant on an old Code that misrepresented the law. Too many parties and politicians have failed to act swiftly to get the matter resolved.
I was very pleased to help raise awareness of this completely unacceptable delay by hosting a Parliamentary event on the 1-year anniversary of the Supreme Court Ruling which you can see here:
As my colleague, Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP, the Shadow Equalities Minister wrote in the Express newspaper on the 21st of May, the court was clear - when a space or a service is provided for just one sex, sex means biological men or women.
‘It is fine to offer mixed-sex spaces where appropriate, and it is important to provide alternative spaces for transgender people.
But when a toilet, changing room, hospital ward, gym class, sports team or anything else is women only, then no men are allowed.’
We have been clear in the Conservative Party - women's rights must be protected and we would have implemented the Supreme Court ruling without delay.
Mims Davies MP Statement on the Supreme Court Ruling | Mims Davies
Thankfully, the EHRC guidance on the Equality Act 2010: Draft Code of Practice for Services, public functions and associations and this and other matters has finally been published in a very low-key way by the Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP whose job it was to get this done. This Statutory guidance was laid before Parliament on the last day before recess and is very welcome as we’ve waited far too long for confirmation and clarity of what we have always known.
Here is a link to the Draft Code of Practice document: Equality Act 2010: Draft Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations, 2026 - GOV.UK
The work now starts to ensure that our public services, charities, education system and the private sector stop dragging their heels, comply with the Supreme Court ruling & bring back common sense and women’s rights to single sex spaces, services and sports. It cannot be beyond the wit of all of us to get this right so that women, roughly 50% of the population, are supported to live in a world that is safe, fair and equal, and that supporting a small minority of needs is accommodated too.
On the 28th of May, my colleague the Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP and I wrote to the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission with our concerns that the Government may have put pressure on the EHRC to make legally dubious changes to parts of the new Code of Practice. You can read our letter by clicking on this link:
