Labour ministers are secretly plotting to defy the landmark court ruling that men who change gender are not legally women, leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by The Mail on Sunday have revealed.
The Government claimed to welcome the Supreme Court judgment – but the exchanges reveal the private fury on Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbench, with ministers planning to hold a meeting this week to ‘decide a way forwards’ and ‘organise’.
In the messages, sent on Thursday evening, Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant joined an attack on Baroness Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), who earlier that day had said that the ruling – that a woman is defined by biological sex – clearly meant trans women could not use single-sex female facilities or compete in women’s sports.
When an MP said that Lady Falkner’s words were ‘pretty appalling’, Mr Bryant wrote: ‘Agreeed [sic].’
Last night, with the Government in turmoil, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wrote to the Cabinet Secretary calling for an investigation into a statement by Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson, who reacted to the judgment by saying: ‘We have always supported the protection of single sex spaces based on biological sex.’
In her letter to Sir Chris Wormald, who is also the Head of the Civil Service, Ms Badenoch argued that it could constitute a ‘false public statement’ – because last June Ms Phillipson declared that trans women with penises should be able to use single-sex spaces.
Writing on the WhatsApp group of LGBT+ Labour MPs, Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle (pictured) said: ‘The ruling is not as catastrophic as it seems but the EHRC guidance might be and there are already signs that some public bodies are overreacting’
In the messages, sent on Thursday evening, Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant (pictured) joined an attack on Baroness Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
Writing on the WhatsApp group of LGBT+ Labour MPs, Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle said: ‘The ruling is not as catastrophic as it seems but the EHRC guidance might be and there are already signs that some public bodies are overreacting’ – a possible reference to the British Transport Police’s interim announcement that strip searches of trans women would now be done by male officers, not female.
Dame Angela added that ‘we have to get on with doing the stuff we said we’d do in the manifesto’, which included a pledge to protect ‘the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity’.
Another MP on the WhatsApp group wrote that it was ‘sad to see some institutions choose to ignore the Supreme Court’s very strong line that trans people are protected by the Equality Act too’. Dame Angela replied: ‘They won’t be feeling that way now and we need to remember that and organise.’
MPs agreed with her suggestion that they should seek a meeting ‘ASAP with [the] relevant Equality Minister’ after the Commons returns from Easter recess this week.
News of the WhatsApp messages came as thousands of trans rights campaigners descended on central London yesterday to rally against the landmark ruling.
The ‘emergency demonstration’ ended with at least two statues in Parliament Square daubed with graffiti, with ‘fag rights’ and a heart painted on the banner held by suffragist Millicent Fawcett. ‘Trans rights are human rights’ was also sprayed on the pedestal bearing a memorial to South African military leader Jan Christian Smuts.
Yesterday, other bodies vowed to challenge the ruling, with teachers voting at a conference in Liverpool to stop schools making ‘knee-jerk’ changes to their trans policies until the government issues further guidance.
The NASUWT union claimed the judgment could lead schools to make rules which put transgender teachers ‘at risk of harm’.
Labour has come under fire over its response to last Wednesday’s unanimous verdict. Health Minister Karin Smyth failed four times to clarify which changing room trans women should now use.
In contrast, Lady Falkner – who hailed the ruling for bringing ‘clarity’ – told the BBC: ‘Single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex.
‘If a male person is allowed to use a women-only service or facility, it isn’t any longer single-sex.’
She also agreed that the ‘enormously consequential’ court decision also meant trans women could not take part in female sports.
Lady Falkner, whose watchdog is working on an updated code of conduct for public services, said the NHS would now be pursued if it did not follow new guidelines on single-sex spaces.
Current guidance says trans people should be ‘accommodated’ according to how they ‘identify’.
In 2023, Lady Falkner survived attempts to oust her from her job because of her staunch defence of women’s rights after the Mail exposed claims of an ‘ideologically motivated witch-hunt’ against her.
Interviewing her on the BBC’s Today programme last week, Nick Robinson said her position ‘has brought you extraordinary levels of personal grief’ – including once being described as a ‘Nazi who wants to dehumanise trans people’.
Last night, with the Government in turmoil, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wrote to the Cabinet Secretary calling for an investigation into a statement by Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson
Mims Davies, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, said: ‘In public Keir Starmer and his Cabinet pretended they supported the Supreme Court judgment. But in private we know Labour are seething, as these texts prove.
‘Like so many brave women, Baroness Faulkner has suffered terrible abuse for standing up for the rights of women and girls. Now we know Labour will do all they can to undermine her work.
‘The Prime Minister needs to come out and say he will support the EHRC guidance when it comes out. Anything less will be Labour betraying the rights of women once again.’
Pressed on the issue last year, Ms Phillipson said: ‘If you were someone that had gone through that formal process of recognition you are, to all intents and purposes, for legal purposes, regarded as being in a different gender regardless of the sex into which you were born… I would think that in those cases people would be using female toilets.’
In her letter to Sir Chris about Ms Phillipson’s apparent new stance, Ms Badenoch said: ‘If ministers or advisers are found to have instructed civil servants to issue misleading material, then there is a clear route to resolve through resignation.’
Sir Chris and Dame Angela declined to comment.
