Mick Hartley

Sonia Sodha in the Times on Bridget Phillipson and single-sex guidance:

What could explain this dreadful mess? Phillipson’s ambitions are well known within her party. There are many Labour activists and union leaders who inexplicably cling to the minority belief that men should be able to identify into women’s spaces — from workplace changing rooms to women’s prisons to domestic abuse refuges — and who refuse to accept the obvious consequences for women’s dignity, safety and privacy.

They are people she undoubtedly wants to keep on side for any future run at the leadership. The moment she lays the code before parliament is the moment ministers must own the law as it stands, rather than cowardly hiding behind judges. This will put them in the firing line of angry gender activists from within their own party.

There are clues to suggest that even as the government claimed to back the Supreme Court judgment it may have been looking for ways to get around it. In November lawyers instructed by Phillipson argued in the High Court that a service provider could lawfully allow a man who identifies as a woman to use a female-only service without that service ceasing to be single sex. The judge was clear that the government had this wrong in light of the Supreme Court ruling. The Times has also reported that Phillipson told the EHRC to “tone down” its guidance and make it “more inclusive”, according to some close to the process (sources close to Phillipson have denied this). All this raises the question: was Phillipson behind the scenes trying to water down the clarity of the Supreme Court judgment? She owes us an answer.

The answer, surely, is yes.

The civil service is notoriously captured by gender ideology. The fact it refused to withdraw its own unlawful policy shows how high up that goes. I’m told there are civil servants actively working to undermine implementation of the law as clarified by the Supreme Court.

There is much at stake here for women, not least those still being denied access to female-only support groups for rape survivors and those still fighting employers who expect them to share changing rooms with male colleagues. However, I think ministers are yet to cotton on to what is at stake for them politically.

Some of them will no doubt be scratching their heads after the dreadful council losses Labour is expected to suffer next month. It’s not yet been two years, why have voters turned against us so very quickly?

An answer lies in this sorry saga. It is the perfect example of government by midwittery, helmed by ministers who fail to grasp that voters are sufficiently discerning to see through the inconsistencies and the excuses. It is high time they stopped underestimating them.