WOMEN’S sport would be allowed to ban transgender athletes under landmark legal changes pledged today by Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch.
The Tories are opening the second full week of election campaigning with a vow to enshrine the rights of biological sex over gender.
It would let providers of single-sex services and spaces exclude trans women without fear of being taken to court for discrimination.
And it would allow firms to stop biological men entering sensitive places such as toilets, changing rooms and domestic violence hostels.
This will be done by strengthening the Equalities Act to make clear that the protected characteristic of sex refers specifically to biology.
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Rishi Sunak has said this needs clarifying because of the surge in trans people since the last Labour government introduced the Act.
The PM has also committed to wresting control of gender issues back to Westminster so the SNP cannot have another crack at their controversial reforms.
He said: “The Conservatives believe that making this change in law will enhance protections in a way that respects the privacy and dignity of everyone in society.
“We are taking an evidence-led approach to this issue so we can continue to build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.”
Tory strategists believe Labour is weak on the trans issue and want to put Sir Keir Starmer on the back foot ahead of the first election TV debate.
Both leaders spent the weekend prepping for tomorrow’s head-to-head on ITV, with Mr Sunak hoping to claw back ground in the polls.
The gender crackdown also brings Tory big beast Ms Badenoch into the election battle for the first time.
She has won plaudits for railing against trans militants and putting in safeguards against transitioning.
Today’s pledge comes after Ms Badenoch wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission last year warning of “the increasing contestation of how the term sex is understood in law and in practice”.
The Commission agreed defining sex as a biological issue would “bring greater clarity” in issues like single-sex spaces and clubs.
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Trans athletes competing in sport has especially sparked fierce debate.
There was international controversy in 2022 when US male-born swimmer Lia Thomas, 25, won a women’s US College Championship.
Global swimming regulator World Aquatics has since banned anyone who goes through male puberty competing in women’s events.
Currently UK sports organisers have to prove it would be unsafe to include participants of the opposite sex.
It is believed the Tory changes would remove that requirement.
Ms Badenoch said it was essential public authorities and regulatory bodies are given clearer guidance.
'COMMON-SENSE'
She said: “That is why we are today pledging that, if we form a government after the election, we will clarify that sex in the law means biological sex and not new, redefined meanings of the word.”
She insists the legal change will not erode the rights of someone to legally change their gender.
Labour has come unstuck on trans issues in the past, with Sir Keir saying 99 per cent of women do not have a penis — but that one per cent do.
One of his own campaigning MPs, Rosie Duffield, has said Labour has “an issue with women”.
Following the recent Cass review — that found children were being pushed down a medical transition route with little supporting evidence — senior Labour MPs rowed back on previous hardline positions.
The trans crackdown is the latest in a line of “common-sense” Tory pledges designed to open up dividing lines with Labour.
It is also seen as a bid to blunt the Reform Party threat
