Rishi Sunak has denied stoking a culture war with his pledge to overhaul equality laws, while the women and equalities minister could not say what kind of paperwork people would need to show to use single-sex spaces under the plans.
Rishi Sunak with parliamentary candidate for Wokingham Lucy Demery, left, and parliamentary candidate for Henley Caroline Newton, right, speaking to rowing club members during a visit to the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire Ms Badenoch could not answer questions on whether someone’s original birth certificate – or one amended after a legally-recognised gender change – would define biological sex in such cases.
Speaking to LBC radio, Ms Badenoch said: “We want people who are trans to be protected as well, people who want to change their clothes should not be able to exploit the scenarios we have prepared and the laws we have put in place to protect those people who are genuine transgender people, those who suffer gender dysphoria.Labour frontbencher John Healey said his party would not amend the Equality Act if it wins the election because there are already provisions to protect single-sex spaces.
He has been attempting to shift perceptions of Labour’s defence stance following the party’s time under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, a long-standing critic of Nato and Trident.