MPs back Good Law Project’s legal challenge against new single-sex spaces guidance
The Good Law Project has said the new code of practice, which came into force today, is “immensely harmful” and “unlawful”
A group of Labour MPs have backed the Good Law Project’s decision to support a legal challenge against the equalities regulator’s new code of practice on single-sex spaces.
The Good Law Project has helped an unnamed trans person and a trans-inclusive organisation to write a pre-action letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) explaining why the guidance, which came into effect today, is unlawful.
The campaign group has said that the new guidance on who single-sex spaces can be open to is “wrong” and violates people’s rights.
The new EHRC guidance stipulates that if a women’s space doesn’t operate on the basis of sex recorded at birth it must be “open to all”.
This means that if a women’s organisation wants to remain inclusive to trans women, it must all allow men to join.
Alternatively, they would have to ban trans women from using the service in order to follow the guidance.
It will also mean that in theory people can only use toilets and changing rooms based on the biological sex they were assigned at birth.
This comes after a Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 that the terms ‘woman’, ‘man’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act referred to biological sex at birth.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft code was submitted to Bridget Phillipson, women and equalities minister, in September 2025 but was not laid before parliament until May 2026.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome put forward a motion to reject the code in June, which was signed by 167 MPs.
As reported by the Metro, Whittome has backed the Good Law Project-linked legal challenge.
Whittome told the Metro: “The Code will lead to the segregation and exclusion of trans people, and will subject many others to gender policing based on stereotypes. It is harmful and unworkable.
“Despite 1 in 4 MPs signing my motion opposing the guidance, it is now coming into force without any vote in Parliament taking place.
“With the Code representing a profound rollback of rights, I am glad that the Good Law Project is challenging its legality through the courts.’
Labour MP Richard Quigley also told Metro he welcomed the legal challenge, stating that the guidance “has created nothing but confusion and anxiety and appears contradictory when even light scrutiny is applied”.
Kim Johnson MP also said: “The Good Law Project is right to warn that this guidance is ‘incredibly dangerous and likely to cause unlawful discrimination’.”
Lib Dem MPs Vikki Slade and Tom Gordon have also indicated that they want the code to be withdrawn, as has the Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward.
Regarding the legal challenge, the Good Law Project’s trans rights lead, Jess O’Thomson, said: “This Labour government pushed through its transphobic guidance in the face of opposition from many MPs, including nearly a hundred of its own backbenchers.
“It’s not just immensely harmful. We think it’s unlawful, and completely against human rights. So this challenge is absolutely essential.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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