The EHRC Code of Practice is set to clear Parliament today as the 40-day scrutiny period concludes, despite 166 MPs from across the House signing a ‘prayer’ motion to block it – including more than 90 Labour backbenchers defying the policy.
The revised code has been published over a year following a landmark Supreme Court ruling in April 2025, which established the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 relate to biological woman and biological sex.
The new code tackles a range of situations from sport, where it stipulates trans people should participate alongside others of their birth sex rather than gender identity, to hospital wards, which it says can lawfully exclude trans patients if single-sex.
The Government declared the new code “gives organisations clear, workable guidance which will enable them to take a pragmatic approach to protecting and serving the needs of our society” and supports service providers such as hospitals, cafes and leisure centres “in ensuring they can make practical, and ultimately sensible decisions for every day scenarios, such as toilet provision”.
With no vote timetabled today, the revised EHRC code is due to pass automatically, but won’t come into force right away. Nadia Whittome MP, who submitted the motion against the code, penned a letter to Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, demanding it be withdrawn.
“The scrutiny period for the EHRC’s draft Code of Practice ends this week. This Code will enforce trans people’s segregation, out them to others, and put them at increased risk of harassment, abuse and violence,” Nadia posted on BlueSky. “Despite more than 1 in 4 MPs signing my motion against the Code, it is due to come into force without any debate or vote in Parliament. I have written to the Minister for Women and Equalities urging her to withdraw it now.”
The government’s own Equality Impact Assessment acknowledges that this could place some trans people at a “disproportionate risk of violence and sexual assault”, and cautions about the dangers of gender policing affecting everyone, noting “women who are considered masculine may face greater scrutiny”.
LGBTQ+ activists are urging the government to amend the underlying legislation following last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
Trans+ Solidarity Alliance director Alexandra Parmar-Yee stated the EHRC code establishes a “dark legacy on LGBTQ+ rights” for Starmer’s government, “cementing the UK’s status as an international outlier in its treatment of trans people.
“Labour must reset and legislate urgently to put our legal framework back on a fair and workable footing, in line with Parliament’s original intent,” she said in a statement.
“The government have refused to allow time for this harmful guidance to be debated or voted on, but they can still listen to the more than 90 Labour MPs who have rebelled and signed the motion to stop it and think again. Trans people’s legal protections are fundamentally broken, which will cause real and everyday harms.”
NION Women has also proudly thrown its weight behind a growing coalition of women’s organisations, networks and community groups from across the UK, jointly publishing a statement on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s updated Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations.
As their joint statement reads: “These changes are being presented as necessary to protect the safety, rights and dignity of women. In reality, as women’s organisations, we believe these changes do nothing to address the actual causes of violence and inequality that women face every day. Rather, they are another example of our voices and experiences being exploited to justify the introduction of policies that promote restriction and exclusion.”
The coalition also dismisses the notion that safeguarding women and respecting trans people are conflicting goals: “We reject the false choice between protecting women and treating trans people with dignity, and believe women’s rights are best advanced when we stand in solidarity with our trans siblings.”
If you have been affected by this story, contact Mindline Trans+‘s emotional and mental health support helpline for anyone identifying as trans, non-binary, gender variant, and their families, friends, colleagues and carers. Their phone line is open Mondays and Fridays, 8pm to midnight. Ring 0300 330 5468.