Andy Burnham has U-turned on his opposition to the EHRC trans guidance and his views on trans use of facilities in general. Right that’s it – Guido is launching a tracker…
Burnham said today that his views had changed since 2022 and added:
“I think the time has come to take the Supreme Court ruling and the guidance and implement it. But to do it in a way, obviously, that protects those spaces, but does not marginalise already marginalised communities… Let’s implement the guidance, but to do it in the fairest and most compassionate way possible.”
This is obviously the opposite of his previous statements. So far Burnham has U-turned on:
- Rejoining the European Union
- Relaxing the fiscal rules
- Proportional representation
- Opposition to Mahmood’s migration policies
- The trans guidance
More to come! Follow along…
Just emailed to all staffers and MPs in Parliament:
“Dear colleagues,
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has released new guidance for organisations, following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on 16 April 2025 regarding the legal definitions of “men” and “women” for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
The EHRC guidance will come into effect on 9 July if neither House disapproves it.
House Administration staff are working through the guidance, should it come into effect, so that we are in the best position to implement an agreed approach. As part of this, we will complete an Inclusion Analysis and engage with the Administration Committee and colleagues about any changes that are made.
We appreciate this is a challenging and sensitive issue. We are not alone as an organisation in seeking to ensure that we comply with the law in a way which aligns with our inclusive and welcoming culture. As ever, all colleagues and users of the estate should be treated with respect and in an inclusive manner, in line with the Behaviour Code.
More information will be communicated as soon as it is available.
Further support
Anyone who feels affected by recent discussions on this topic, may wish to use the following support services:
- The Employee Assistance Programme provides confidential wellbeing support available 27/4, 365 days a year.
- Mental health first aiders are available during working hours.
- Links to further wellbeing support, including via the Parliamentary Health and Wellbeing Service, are available on ParliNet.
- Colleagues can also contact one of our Workplace Equality Networks.
There are also external sources of support available:
- LGBT Foundation Helpline (call [REDACTED])
- Switchboard LGBT+ (call [REDACTED])
- Trans Support Groups”
The email sent to MPs does not provide information about “further support” and external services. The link to “trans support groups” goes to Trans Unite, which lists extremely controversial trans organisation Mermaids as an “organisation we love.” The Commons dangerously close to taking a side on the culture wars there…
Entries in the comments…
A quiet morning for Andy so far…
UPDATE: The key quotes:
‘We have not been good enough. A vote for me in this by election is a vote to change Labour
‘It is a vote to give the people in these communities back the party they used to know
‘A party that is solidly on the side of working class people and working class communities’
Andy Burnham has attempted to give his side of the story after his clash with the Daily Mail’s Christian Calgie. It has already gone wrong.
Earlier this morning, Burnham tweeted this:
Those looking to find this tweet will struggle, because he has deleted it. GB News never mentioned the story once. Guido did, of course, and co-conspirators can watch our interview with Christian Calgie here. He has since posted again to only attack Calgie…
Lee Anderson also posted to X this morning (still available):
“We had no idea Andy was there. The reason we stopped by is because there is a lake there where Rob fishes and he was showing us places in the constituency that meant a lot to him.
Whilst there a few of us went into the cafe to use the toilet and have a cup of tea. The lady who runs the cafe sat down at our table and discussed how the cafe works and the challenges they faced. Nothing was planned it was just a convenience break. Burnham lost his rag with Christian Calgie who happened to following our group.”
Burnham officially launches his campaign later this morning. Should be fun…
Business Secretary Peter Kyle has defended the long delay in the publication of the government’s single-sex spaces guidance and praised the document as “light touch.” He told Sky News:
“It’s very common sense, and it won’t affect the vast majority of businesses because they will already conform… I think the majority of changes will be quite light touch such as signage. So I think it’s going to be quite easy to adapt to and I think the the guidance it’s quite long guidance but I think most businesses will find it quite straightforward.”
As for the delay Kyle said “it’s much more important that we get these things right and we wanted to do this with sensitivity.”
The updated Code of Practice corrected the 2011 code, which told service providers to treat trans people according to their presented gender role – advice the Supreme Court ruling confirmed was wrong in law. If a service provider admits trans people of the opposite sex into a single-sex service, it can no longer rely on the Equality Act’s single-sex exceptions and is very likely committing unlawful sex discrimination against others…
The code confirms that women may reasonably object to male presence in contexts involving undressing, vulnerability or trauma recovery, and that providing only a mixed-sex service in such situations could itself constitute direct or indirect sex discrimination against women, or unlawful harassment. In competitive sport, sex-based rules should be applied on the basis of biological sex; trans people should not be included in single-sex competitions for the sex they identify with. Though organisers are told to consider alternatives like mixed-sex categories…
Women’s rights group Sex Matters flags one legal error in the guidance which is a claim that information about sex is likely “special category data” under UK GDPR, but Article 9(1) doesn’t list sex as a special category. It covers sex life and sexual orientation, which are distinct. The death of the culture wars continues…
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”
