Six London boroughs have pledged to maintain trans-inclusive services despite new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on access to single-sex spaces.

In a joint letter issued on the day the EHRC’s new guidance came into force, leaders of the Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat-run boroughs of Lewisham, Hackney, Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Haringey and Southwark said they would not require council staff to “police” access to public spaces.

The councils argue that the guidance could leave transgender and non-binary residents feeling targeted and excluded from public life. They said they would resist what they described as a “harmful” approach to the rights of trans people.

The EHRC guidance states that access to single-sex spaces and services, including toilets, changing rooms and rape crisis centres, should generally be determined by biological sex, rather than gender identity.

The updated Code of Practice is not itself legally binding. Instead, it provides organisations with guidance on how to comply with the Equality Act following the Supreme Court’s April 2025 ruling that the protected characteristic of “sex” under the legislation refers to biological sex.

In their letter to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson, the six council leaders said: “It is simply unacceptable that the Code of Practice is harmful to the rights of trans people and will make their exclusion from public life more likely, not less.

“This will feel like an attack to the countless trans people in our communities who are simply trying to live their lives in safety and wish to be treated with respect.”

The councils called on Phillipson to ensure that the code could not be “interpreted to exclude Trans+ people from services.”

The dispute has already extended beyond London. Green-led Bristol City Council has said its services will continue to allow trans women to access certain single-sex spaces where those facilities are described as “single-gender” or “trans-inclusive”, rather than explicitly as female-only spaces.

Meanwhile, legal action has reportedly been initiated against Hackney council over allegations that it has failed to provide female-only services.

The Good Law Project has also threatened the government with legal action, arguing that the guidance amounts to a “blanket prohibition on trans-inclusive gendered services.”

The post Six London councils defy EHRC guidance by pledging to maintain trans-inclusive services appeared first on Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK's progressive debate.

Six London councils have called for the government to introduce new legislation to protect trans people following the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) code of practice on single-sex spaces coming into force.

The EHRC code of practice follows the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex under the Equality Act, which determined that this refers to the sex someone has been assigned at birth.

Under the EHRC code of practice, service providers are required to ensure that where ‘single-sex’ spaces exist – such as toilets – trans people should use facilities that match the sex they were assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity, or use gender neutral facilities where these are available.

Local councils are among the bodies most affected by the new code of practice, given their provision of services around leisure, homelessness and healthcare.

Six council leaders in London wrote an open letter to the government on the day the EHRC code of practice came into force (August 5) demanding that it clarifies that the code must not be used to exclude trans people from services and pledged to resist its implementation. The six councils in question are all led by the Green Party.

In their letter to the minister for women and equalities Bridget Phillipson, the six council leaders said: “We say this to you in no uncertain terms: Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary identities are fundamentally valid.

“It is simply unacceptable that the Code of Practice introduced today is harmful to the rights of trans people and will make their exclusion from public life more likely, not less. This will feel like an attack to the countless trans people in our communities who are simply trying to live their lives in safety and wish to be treated with respect.

“As councils who are proud to be boroughs of sanctuary, with significant LGBTQ+ communities, we are committed to being safe, welcoming and inclusive places for all residents, regardless of their background or identity. We have an unshakeable commitment to ensuring that Trans+ residents can access services safely, with dignity and free from discrimination or harassment.”

In their letter, the six council leaders also called for the government to introduce new legislation which protects the rights of trans and non-binary people, to ensure that “they are able to participate fully in public life and access services safely and with dignity”. They have also said they would be reviewing all their “internal practices to ensure that no trans person is excluded on the basis of our actions”.

The letter has been signed by the Green Party leaders of Lambeth (Martin Abrams), Southwark (James McAsh), Haringey (Mark Blake) and Waltham Forest (Paul Perkins) Councils, as well as the Green Mayors of Hackney (Zoë Garbett) and Lewisham (Liam Shrivastava).

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Image credit: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – Creative Commons

The post Six London councils demand new legislation to protect trans people following EHRC ‘attack’ on trans community appeared first on Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK's progressive debate.

A group of Labour MPs have backed the Good Law Project’s decision to support a legal challenge against the equalities regulator’s new code of practice on single-sex spaces.

The Good Law Project has helped an unnamed trans person and a trans-inclusive organisation to write a pre-action letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) explaining why the guidance, which came into effect today, is unlawful.

The campaign group has said that the new guidance on who single-sex spaces can be open to is “wrong” and violates people’s rights.

The new EHRC guidance stipulates that if a women’s space doesn’t operate on the basis of sex recorded at birth it must be “open to all”. 

This means that if a women’s organisation wants to remain inclusive to trans women, it must all allow men to join.

Alternatively, they would have to ban trans women from using the service in order to follow the guidance. 

It will also mean that in theory people can only use toilets and changing rooms based on the biological sex they were assigned at birth.

This comes after a Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 that the terms ‘woman’, ‘man’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act referred to biological sex at birth.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft code was submitted to Bridget Phillipson, women and equalities minister, in September 2025 but was not laid before parliament until May 2026.

Labour MP Nadia Whittome put forward a motion to reject the code in June, which was signed by 167 MPs. 

As reported by the Metro, Whittome has backed the Good Law Project-linked legal challenge. 

Whittome told the Metro: “The Code will lead to the segregation and exclusion of trans people, and will subject many others to gender policing based on stereotypes. It is harmful and unworkable.

“Despite 1 in 4 MPs signing my motion opposing the guidance, it is now coming into force without any vote in Parliament taking place.

“With the Code representing a profound rollback of rights, I am glad that the Good Law Project is challenging its legality through the courts.’

Labour MP Richard Quigley also told Metro he welcomed the legal challenge, stating that the guidance “has created nothing but confusion and anxiety and appears contradictory when even light scrutiny is applied”.

Kim Johnson MP also said: “The Good Law Project is right to warn that this guidance is ‘incredibly dangerous and likely to cause unlawful discrimination’.”

Lib Dem MPs Vikki Slade and Tom Gordon have also indicated that they want the code to be withdrawn, as has the Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward.

Regarding the legal challenge, the Good Law Project’s trans rights lead, Jess O’Thomson, said: “This Labour government pushed through its transphobic guidance in the face of opposition from many MPs, including nearly a hundred of its own backbenchers. 

“It’s not just immensely harmful. We think it’s unlawful, and completely against human rights. So this challenge is absolutely essential.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

The post MPs back Good Law Project’s legal challenge against new single-sex spaces guidance appeared first on Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK's progressive debate.