Bridget Phillipson ‘betraying women’ on Supreme Court gender ruling: Labour minister is accused of ‘blocking guidance on single-sex spaces to protect her career’

Bridget Phillipson has been accused of prioritizing her ‘personal ambition’ over supporting guidance on women’s right to single-sex spaces.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner accused the Minister for Women and Equalities of holding back from publishing the guidance for fear it could affect any potential promotions.

Delays in publishing guidance on single-sex spaces ‘betrayed’ women, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR) has said.

The former chief of the human rights watchdog has described the Government’s failure to act as ‘cowardice’ as she insisted women have the right to expect trans women to be banned from single-sex spaces.

In his scathing attack on Labour, the Prime Minister also claimed Sir Keir Starmer had not approved legislation on women’s single-sex spaces, despite previously being a barrister.

Baroness Falkner’s attack is the latest in an intense row over the Government’s failure to issue guidance after the Supreme Court ruled in April that the term woman in the Equality Act meant ‘biological woman and biological sex’.

Before Lady Falkner left the EHRC chair in November, she submitted updated guidance to the Minister for Education on the management of single-sex spaces to be shared with businesses.

But almost a year after the High Court decision, Ms Phillipson is yet to publish the updated code, despite it being sent for Government approval.

Lady Falkner attributed the delay to the Education Secretary’s ‘assertive nature’, noting Sir Keir’s role as UK leader and recent speculation about a ‘major reshuffle’ in the cabinet.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner accused the Women and Equalities minister (pictured on 26 March 2026) of not issuing guidance for fear it could affect any potential promotions

Explaining how he believed Ms Phillipson did not want to ‘alienate activist MPs’, he said the Education Secretary had ‘fallen behind’ after losing to Lucy Powell in the Labor MP leadership race last year.

‘She is putting her personal ambition ahead of her role as Minister for Women and Equalities and that is a very sad and distressing situation for our country in terms of the message it sends about the Government,’ she said.

Meanwhile, he took aim at Sir Keir and claimed he failed to support the legislation ‘in its most visible form’, saying this was legal guidance provided by the EHRC, an independent regulator of that legislation.

‘There needs to be long, hard thinking about whether we as a society continue to pursue what I call strong liberalism, in terms of balancing rights correctly – everyone’s rights – and not being afraid to call out wrongs for fear of offending one group or another,’ he told The Telegraph.

Sir Chris Wormald, the former head of the Civil Service, also faced criticism from Lady Falkner for refusing to get rid of rules allowing transgender women to use women’s toilets in Westminster.

The current head of the Civil Service, Dame Antonia, has advised Romeo to use her ‘enthusiasm for reform’ to overhaul the role of gender ideology in departments in Whitehall.

But a Labor source claimed Baroness Falkner humiliated the EHRC with ‘these disgraceful personal comments’.

They said his comments were intended only to ‘further inflame the culture wars that inflame and divide our country.’

‘Labour is doing things properly, providing the sober, adult leadership needed on these issues to ensure organizations and businesses support the law and that everyone is treated fairly, compassionately, with dignity and respect,’ they added.

It comes after he accused Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden of ‘hiding’ the new code of practice for single-sex spaces, claiming it was introduced in April.

At the time, Mr McFadden said the Government only received the code of practice in September.

Baroness Falkner told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips in December: ‘They’ve had this situation since April, the eighth to be exact.

‘This isn’t just about sex and gender. This is an update of the 14-year-old 2011 regulation, which is very outdated in terms of nine protected characteristics: disability, age, race, the whole gamut.

‘They had everything. ‘We spent two years starting from 2022 on this, they did everything on April 8.’

He added: ‘So the Supreme Court decision was made on 16 April, a few days after we made the decision. They knew we would update 10 percent. That’s all we have to update in terms of the Supreme Court decision.’

Baroness Falkner said the EHRC code was just a ‘navigation tool’ and ‘the law of the land was set on 16 April, we are now almost eight months in’.

He added: ‘These are deep, fundamental and fundamental rights. And the situation is serious. And I don’t believe this Government is taking this seriously.’

But Mr McFadden denied the Government was stalling.

‘Guidance will need to be applied across a wide range of sectors and organisations,’ he added.

‘It’s important to get this right because if you don’t get it right organizations will be exposed to more legal jeopardy.’

He said he had the EHRC’s draft guidance, but when asked for a publication date he said: ‘We will get it right rather than just giving a random date.’

The Daily Mail has approached Labor and Bridget Phillipson for comment.