Minister warns over introducing trans rules in ‘untimely fashion’, amid row

Calls to hurry up bringing in new guidance on transgender people’s use of certain spaces has been rejected by a women and equalities minister, who argued the need to “get it right” rather than introducing it in “an untimely fashion”.

Baroness Smith of Malvern made her comments as she was pressed in Parliament over progress on the implementation of the new rules.

A code of practice, updated in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex in April, was shared with women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson at the start of September.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which drafted the guidance, has said ministers must “act at speed” on its enactment as some organisations continued to use the existing rulebook which was now unlawful.

The Government has said it is taking time to review the new document, which is more than 300 pages long.

It has also requested an evaluation of associated costs, which ministers insisted was not a full regulatory impact assessment.

Speaking at Westminster, Lady Smith said: “The Government is considering the draft updated code. If the decision is taken to approve it, the Secretary of State will lay it before Parliament.

“Parliament will then have a 40-day period to consider the code when it is laid. It’s important that the correct process for laying the code is followed.”

She added: “Let me be absolutely clear, the EHRC has not been asked to carry out a full regulatory impact assessment, but rather to provide a minimum, proportionate cost assessment to evidence exclusion from a full regulatory impact assessment and to enable us to take an informed decision.

“Understanding costs and impacts is not new.”

She also told peers that the Government was “considering the benefits and the risks” of revoking the existing code as requested by the EHRC.

Lady Smith added: “I think it is right, given the significance of this code that the Government takes the time to get it right, rather than to satisfy those who are calling for it to be laid in what would, I think … be an untimely fashion.”

“We need to get this right”

She was supported in this by the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev David Walker, who said: “As the minister just said we need to get this right, rather than quick.”

He argued a new boss of the equalities watchdog, Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, who takes up the role next month, presented the opportunity for a fresh start, in an apparent sideswipe at the outgoing chair Baroness Falkner of Margravine, who was sat in the chamber.

The bishop said: “Can the minister assure us the forthcoming appointment of a new chair of the EHRC will be taken as an opportunity to reset an organisation that has of late lost the confidence of many?”

Lady Smith said: “I think EHRC has continued to do important work, but I take the point that he makes that the new chair of the EHRC, who will start in her role at the end of this month, does have an important opportunity to build on that work and to ensure, as I know she will do, that she builds trust amongst a wide range of stakeholders and supports the Government, and in fact all of us, in ensuring that the provisions of the Equality Act in the breadth of their application are done as effectively as possible, because we all benefit from that.”

Former EastEnders actor Lord Cashman, the co-founder of LGBT rights charity Stonewall, said: “Proportionality is the key word. The debate around trans people and in particular trans women, has depicted them as a threat, particularly a threat to others.

“So therefore I ask the Government not to act in haste, but to proceed with care and, dare I say kindness and caution in order to balance the rights of all concerned.”

Lady Smith said: “I do recognise that trans people are concerned about the implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling, and as I said, we’re considering both that ruling and its implications carefully.

“But we’re clear, as was that ruling, that the laws to protect trans people from discrimination and harassment will remain in place. Trans people will still be protected on the basis of gender reassignment, a protected characteristic written into Labour’s Equality Act.”

Leading lawyer and independent crossbencher Lord Pannick said: “Does the minister agree that it is today the obligation of all persons, whether private or public, to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court, whether you agree with it or not and without waiting for guidance?”

Lady Smith said: “Yes, I do agree with that. That’s what the Prime Minister downwards in the Government have been clear about since the judgment was made. Organisations should comply with that judgment and where they have concerns, they should take legal advice on how to do it.”