Trans women will not be allowed to attend main Labour Women’s Conference events
Trans women will not be able to attend the main session of the Labor Party’s Women’s Conference next year.
It follows a legal review into how the event should operate after the Supreme Court ruled in April that a woman is defined by biological sex under equality legislation.
Trans women will not be able to attend official proceedings, including speeches and policy discussions in the main hall, but they will be able to attend side events that will be open to everyone regardless of their gender.
It is understood that the party views the format as the least restrictive way of balancing accessibility and legal compliance.
The Women’s Conference, which is usually held at the same venue the day before the party’s annual conference, was canceled in 2025 after the party sought legal advice following the Supreme Court decision.
Before this decision, Labor had allowed people to identify as women so that trans women could attend the event and also take part in “affirmative action” measures such as all-female shortlists.
A spokesman said Labor had launched a “comprehensive legal review” of the rules for the women’s conference following the Supreme Court ruling and subsequently confirmed the 2026 event would go ahead with new rules of attendance.
“This reflects our determination to address the issue of under-representation of women and compliance with the law in the Party,” the spokesman continued.
This comes as the government continues to consider a new code of practice in light of the guidance and decision issued to public bodies and businesses on how to implement the Equality Act.
The law was redesigned by the equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and was submitted to the government for ministerial approval before coming into force.
Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson received the draft three months ago but said she would take the time necessary to “get this right” before publishing it.
The EHRC, under its current leadership, has previously called on the government to sign the guidance quickly.
Outgoing EHRC chair Baroness Falkner of Margravine said: Times He was “so confident” that the guidance was legal, and suggested one explanation for the delay might be that the government “is afraid of MPs who want trans identity or trans participation to be valid in all areas of society”.
He said there was a delay It has led to the creation of a “grey zone” around single-sex spaces.
“Some organizations implement this [the ruling] In a way, the others are not,” said Baroness Falkner.
