Government urged to hold parliamentary debate on EHRC’s new code of practice

LGBTQ+ groups have called on the UK government to table a debate regarding the updates to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) single-sex code of practice.

More than 80 organisations and groups signed a joint letter calling on equalities minister Bridget Phillipson to stage a “meaningful debate” once the revamped guidance had been published.

The UK’s equality watchdog proposed updates to its Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations, in April, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled on the definitions of “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act.

Updates suggested by the EHRC would effectively exclude trans people from gendered spaces consistent with their gender identity, including toilets, changing rooms and even possibly book clubs. In some cases, transgender men and women could be barred from spaces consistent with their birth sex, too.

Once published, the new code of practice will be sent to the equalities minister and could become law without a parliamentary debate. Organisations, including TransActual, Not A Phase and Galop, have said in an open letter that the updates deserve to face “full scrutiny” from MPs and the public before that is allowed to happen.

“Parliament and the public are not expected to even gain sight of the code until after it has had ministerial approval, and MPs are expected to have no opportunity to debate or vote on this momentous change in parliament,” the letter, published on Monday (1 September), read.

“Changes of this scale by ministerial fiat sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the sovereignty of the House [of Commons]. We cannot let this happen in secret, behind closed doors.”

The groups called on Phillipson and prime minister Keir Starmer to allow MPs “the opportunity for full scrutiny, meaningful debate and a free vote on the new EHRC code of practice”, and urged them to support “any motion tabled in parliament that seeks to prevent from coming into force a code of practice that infringes on human rights standards”.

Code of practice could act as a ‘bigot’s charter’

The EHRC has been accused of “rushing” through the changes. In a column for PinkNews in May, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer claimed the proposed updates wouldn’t “keep any of us safe – trans or not”.

She went on to say: “The implications of these guidelines are deeply worrying. At best, trans people face having to out themselves in order to use facilities and services, which violates their right to privacy. At worst, this guidance will act as a bigot’s charter, unleashing vigilante harassment, intimidation and violence against trans people.”

Victoria McCloud, the UK’s first out trans judge, who has now retired, recently filed an application to challenge the Supreme Court’s verdict at the European Court of Human Rights, claiming the ruling violated three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

She also criticised the UK’s top judges for failing to listen to a single trans person before issuing their ruling.

“Decisions about us, that fundamentally change our rights, shouldn’t be made without us,” she said.

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