Liberal Democrats vote for pro-trans motion, calling EHRC guidance ‘discriminatory and unworkable’

The Liberal Democrats have voted for a motion rejecting the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) guidance on single-sex spaces, describing it as “discriminatory and unworkable”.

Taking place at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton yesterday (21 September), the motion received an overwhelming majority vote, with leader Ed Davey publicly backing it.

It calls for the current EHRC guidance to be replaced with more inclusive rules, following the April 2025 Supreme Court ruling, which defined what it means to be a woman based on biological sex.

Equality and Human Rights Commission’s final guidance

The guidance is intended to explain how organisations should balance trans people’s rights with requirements for single-sex spaces. It states that single-sex spaces may, in certain circumstances, be based on biological sex, meaning trans women and trans men may be excluded from facilities that align with their gender.

As a result, the guidance says organisations should consider alternative options for trans people. It refers to providing a separate “third space” or gender-neutral facilities. Campaigners say this treats trans people like a “third gender”.

The vote makes the Lib Dems the first of the UK’s three largest parliamentary parties to formally call for a different approach to implementing the Supreme Court ruling.

Liberal Democrats vote for pro-trans motion

The motion recognises that “trans women are women” and “trans men are men”, and that women’s and trans people’s rights are not in competition.

As reported by the Guardian, Lucas North, chair of the LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, who proposed the motion, said: “The rights of women and the rights of trans people do not have to be placed on opposite sides of a manufactured culture war.”

Rebecca Jones, a trans woman, spoke out in support of the motion, saying: “I’m tired of being a culture war prop.

“You now fear using public spaces. You fear anyone that looks at you too much in case they hate trans people enough that they put you at risk. All whilst your government repeats the words ‘dignity’ and ‘respect’, whilst doing everything in their power to ensure trans people do not have them.”

Zoe Hollowood speaks out against the motion

Before the motion was passed, the debate prompted criticism from Liberal Voice for Women, whose chair, Zoe Hollowood, accused the party of taking a “sledgehammer to women’s rights” and warned that it could return the party to the “culture wars”.

Speaking at the conference, she asked: “In 2026, are women allowed rights?” She added: “If we pass this motion, we are telling women we think they are second-class citizens.”