UK government insists it is ‘taking time to get this right’ on single-sex spaces

Labour accused of delaying new rules to avoid backlash, after leak of EHRC guidance saying trans people could be questioned based on looks

The UK government has insisted it will take as much time as necessary to get right" new rules on access to single-sex spaces after a leak of guidance submitted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) raised concerns that its publication was being deliberately delayed.

The equalities watchdog submitted its formal guidance on how public bodies, businesses and other service providers should respond to April's landmark supreme court ruling on biological sex to the UK government in September. Since then, its outgoing chair, Kishwer Falkner, has urged the equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, to approve it as soon as possible".