Trans women barred from women's toilets in parliament, prompting claims of ‘knee-jerk response'
The Commons has updated its guidance for single-sex bathroom facilities for visitors.
Under the new guidance, visitors to parliament are advised to use toilets corresponding to their biological sex or gender-neutral facilities, leading to accusations of a 'knee-jerk response' to a recent legal ruling.
This policy change follows a complaint about a trans woman using women's facilities and a Supreme Court ruling on the interpretation of 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010.
The updated guidance does not apply to parliamentary staff, who can continue to use facilities appropriate for their gender.
Critics argue the new rule is a human rights violation, will cause distress for trans people, and underscores the need for clear, workable guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
8 minutes ago
- The Independent
Fierce opposition to deal aimed at tackling small boats crisis
Five EU countries – Italy, Greece, Spain, Malta, and Cyprus – have raised concerns about a proposed "one in, one out" migration deal between the UK and France. The deal, reportedly being negotiated by Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, would involve Britain returning small boat migrants to France in exchange for asylum seekers with UK family ties. These five nations, often the first point of entry for irregular migrants, fear the agreement could lead to asylum seekers being returned to their shores under existing EU rules. They have formally objected to the European Commission, arguing against a bilateral deal that could have direct or indirect consequences for other member states. The proposed UK-France deal is expected to be unveiled during Emmanuel Macron's visit to London in early July, following a significant increase in small boat crossings to the UK in early 2025.
BreakingNews.ie
10 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Rod Stewart says Britain should ‘give Farage a chance'
Sir Rod Stewart has called on Britain to 'give Nigel Farage a chance' as he revealed how close he came to pulling out of his Glastonbury appearance. The 80-year-old singer backed the Reform UK leader ahead of appearing in the festival's afternoon legends slot on Sunday, 23 years after he headlined the Pyramid Stage. Advertisement 'I've read about (Sir Keir) Starmer cutting off the fishing in Scotland and giving it back to the EU. That hasn't made him popular,' he told The Times. 'We're fed up with the Tories. We've got to give Farage a chance. He's coming across well. Nigel? What options have we got? Rod Stewart has called on Britain to give Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a chance (PA) 'Starmer's all about getting us out of Brexit and I don't know how he's going to do that. Still, the country will survive. It could be worse. We could be in the Gaza Strip.' Admitting his wealth ensures 'a lot of it doesn't really touch me', he insisted he is not out of touch and expressed his support for Ukraine – criticising US president Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance for their treatment of Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskiy on his visit to the White House – and Gaza. Advertisement 'It's depressing, what's going on in the Gaza Strip,' he said. 'Netanyahu doesn't realise that this is what happened to his people under the Nazis: total annihilation. And Trump is going to turn the Gaza Strip into Miami?' Stewart said a prolonged bout of flu, which forced him to cancel five shows in the US, nearly forced him to withdraw from a Glastonbury appearance he described to ITV as his 'World Cup final'. 'This time last week I was thinking of cancelling,' he told The Sun, crediting his wife Penny Lancaster with nursing him back to health. 'I have had Influenza A. It's been so terrible. It's the worst thing anyone could possibly have, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Advertisement 'Apart from (Vladimir) Putin. I'd wish it on him.' Stewart told The Sun he had negotiated an extra quarter of an hour on top of the allotted 75 minutes for his set. He confirmed he will be joined at Glastonbury by former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood, Simply Red's Mick Hucknall and Lulu, as well as performing the song Powderfinger by Saturday headliner Neil Young.
Times
14 minutes ago
- Times
Starmer must find it in himself to be a true leader
Prime ministerial authority can end with a spectacular tyre-shredding blowout, à la Liz Truss, or more usually a slow puncture. The latter begins with a series of stumbles, which early on are judged forgivable, but as time passes become less so. Once a prime minister is designated 'accident prone' recovery, in the eyes of the electorate, and his or her party, becomes steadily less likely. Irritation evolves into disillusionment, and disillusionment into contempt. From then on, defeat at the ballot box, or a pre-emptive strike from the men in grey suits, is a matter of time. Sir Keir Starmer has not careered off the motorway trailing smoking rubber, like Ms Truss. But his every appearance is now accompanied by an ominous hiss. Labour's inaugural year was never going to be easy, given the legacy of the Conservative era, but the first anniversary of its general election win this coming Friday will be unusually downbeat. Following a series of unforced errors, typified by this week's humiliating climbdown on welfare reform in the face of a mass uprising by Labour MPs, this government is already looking distinctly ragged. And responsibility for its sorry state must ultimately lie with the prime minister. By his failure to plan for power, by his lapses of judgment, by his lack of grip, Sir Keir has created this mess. • A year on, is the Starmer project doomed or can he claw it back? The Labour leader was never going to be loved for his charisma. His selling point was lawyerly sobriety, his prosecutor's punctiliousness. Yet successive fiascos tell a different tale. Depriving pensioners of winter fuel payments, raising employers' national insurance, ditching the Rwanda scheme while not replacing it with a small boats deterrent, understating the harm of grooming gangs: these were the results of Sir Keir's failure to devise detailed plans for the economy and migration in opposition, to devise a coherent narrative explaining difficult choices, and to practise basic politics in spotting approaching danger. Labour rebels, scenting blood, are looking for a scalp in Downing Street. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is the ideal prize for unreconstructed statists; or perhaps Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff, whose brutal but effective silencing of Labour's left before the election inevitably made him enemies. The case against Ms Reeves, to whom Sir Keir appears to have ceded total control over economic policy, is more plausible than that against Mr McSweeney. Her national insurance hike dealt a huge blow to growth, while her winter fuel and working-age health benefits cuts appeared more the result of panic than part of a detailed strategy for reining in a bloated state. • Meet Brian Leishman, the leftwinger holding Keir Starmer's feet to the fire Yet, the chief culprit for Labour's malaise must be Sir Keir. Great prime ministers ultimately delegate to no one in central areas of policy like welfare reform, which must continue if the public finances are to be rescued. Equally, a leader who ignores his backbenchers, especially after a landslide has produced hordes of naive and ambitious new ones, is asking for trouble. In an interview marking his first year, Sir Keir admitted to presentational errors. But the problem runs deeper. This government increasingly comes across as inept: kneejerk rather than strategic in policy implementation, subject to panic and surrender at the first whiff of cordite. Some £4.5 billion has been shaved off its wafer-thin fiscal headroom by the welfare retreat. Autumn tax rises loom; bond markets grow sceptical; deeper unpopularity beckons. Sir Keir handled Donald Trump well, and mended ties with Europe, but he will live or die on the domestic battlefield. Wage growth is forecast to stagnate; Reform would be the biggest party in an election tomorrow. To survive, Sir Keir must become a dominating personality not a bureaucrat, gripping policy, punishing failure, espousing a vision. He must become what he has never truly reconciled himself to being: a politician. If not, there's always someone else willing to have a go.
