Motion tabled to reject the EHRC Code
- midlandsrainbow
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
Nadia Whittome, MP for Nottingham East, has tabled a motion to reject the EHRC code of practice. The code has been redrafted in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, which stated that the legal definition of a woman, in relation to the Equality Act, is based on biological sex. The guidance, if approved, would have far-reaching implications for trans people.
EDM (Early Day Motion) 240 was tabled on Monday 1st June, and asks that “the draft Code of Practice for Services, public functions and associations, a copy of which was laid before this House on 21 May, be disapproved.”
Whittome’s motion seeks to scrap the harmful guidance, and at the time of writing, it has the backing of 62 MPs, including across the Midlands: Zarah Sultana Your Party MP for Coventry South, and Manuela Perteghella Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford-upon-Avon. Alongside Whittome as the primary, the motion’s sponsors (the first six members to sign their support) are: Labour MPs Stella Creasy, Kate Osborne and Lorraine Beavers, Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman, and Green Party MP Siân Berry.
Constituents are encouraged to write to their own MP, asking them to sign too, or join the Mass Lobby on 25th June to see their MP face to face in parliament. Trans+ Solidarity Alliance explain that while the motion is unlikely to stop the guidance, the more signatures it receives, the harder it is to ignore.
In a post on social media, they write: “The guidance tries to push trans people out of public life. It is not workable for those told to implement it. It puts everyone at risk of dangerous gender policing."
Speaking on the motion, Nadia Whittome MP adds: “Alongside colleagues, I have tabled a motion to disapprove the Equality Act 2010: Draft Code of Practice for Services, public functions and associations. We cannot support it, and we have a responsibility to our trans constituents to resist it.
“This motion is currently the only available mechanism through which Parliament can reject the EHRC’s Code of Practice; if it is debated and passed within the 40-day scrutiny window, it would prevent the Code from being issued by the EHRC and coming into force.
“The Code will exclude trans people from services and facilities that they have long used without issue, putting them at increased risk of harassment and violence, and effectively pushing them out of public life.
“It ushers in an era of enforced segregation for trans people, the policing of which will be outsourced to service providers, including businesses, charities and public bodies.
“In the statement to the House of Commons yesterday, the Minister even suggested that where members of the public are unsure of someone’s gender within a single-sex facility, ‘most people will have the common sense to step in where necessary or, if they are concerned, to alert a member of staff.’
“Meanwhile, this guidance does not give clarity and confidence to organisations that want to be trans-inclusive. Its impact also extends beyond the rights of trans people. The government’s own Equality Impact Assessment warns that ‘women who are considered masculine may face greater scrutiny’ and that disabled people could face adverse impacts.
“The Code represents a profound rollback of rights, which will affect trans people directly and erode the principles of inclusion, dignity and equality upon which all our rights depend.
“This guidance must not become statutory; the government should withdraw it and instead legislate to clarify and protect trans people’s rights, privacy and inclusion.”
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