Finally a response from Keir Starmer to SC ruling.

If it bothers them that much they could always shave their beards off so they don't stand out in the ladies. Maya recently tweeted something to the effect that if you make extreme body modifications then you will have to live with the consequences.

What's wrong with using "male transexual" to remove all confusion? Transexual is the word used in the GRA.

I don't think it is indirect discrimination - there are toilets available for their biological sex which they can use. They may not wish to, but the facilites are there

I've done the same thing many, many times @BabyOrca!

I stand corrected re the G! X

If the law says that a trans man can’t use either male or female toilets, I suspect that absence of unisex toilets is indirect discrimination in the same way that absence of disabled toilets would be.

Without specific legislation, I would guess that service providers would have to make reasonable adjustments. Not sure how to quantify that - many facilities are not accessible to people with disabilities even if that does exclude them.

I suspect it will be an ongoing discussion, which I support, as long as women’s rights are protected. I’m all for reality based debate.

The BBC item can't decide whether it's trans women or transwomen. It's all over the place. I thought news outlets had a style book and were supposed to stick to it.

It's in the Observer who have always been more sensible on this issue than the Guardian, so not a U-turn although it's still a very good, clearly written article. (My guess is that Sonia Sodha wrote it.) .

It hasn’t yet. The observer have a different team and stance on women’s rights compared to the guardian.

The big MRP poll from More In Common has a useful list of cabinet ministers currently under threat of losing their seats to Reform, some of whom have relevant responsibilities.

• Angela Rayner (Ashton-under-Lyne) - previously the noisiest TRA in cabinet, currently very quiet.
• Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton) - ensuring joined up government policy and appointing a new chair of the EHRC.
• Yvette Cooper (Pontefract) - getting the cops to implement sex based policing.
• Bridget Phillipson (Sunderland) - women and equalities brief as well as education.

Even if you don't like Reform, having those ministers' feet held to the fire is very useful.

Of course there's always Nandy, and if she reverse ferrets (I suspect she isn't capable) then they really are in a bad position.

More in Common's April MRP

I just think for the guardian to do a U-turn on this is massive.

Spot on, that's exactly how I've always felt about it.

He is saying the minimum he can get away with while putting out his female colleagues to be clear and take the flak. He is a revolting, weasly, little man

He's managed to knock trump down the page on the bbc app

God, it looks so pathetic written out like that.

Like his only thoughts are those of the last person he spoke to.

And, so abundantly clear that there's no conviction for women or trans people. Just whatever he thinks will be the most popular opinion, hedge betting every single step of the way.

not enough clarity in starmer's statement

I doubt that. Single sex toilets are the norm in this country, it would be very costly to change them. And the law says there's no need to.

Observer view - their editorial line has always been different to the Guardian on this issue.

Have you seen the guardian's official view:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/20/the-observer-view-on-equality-act-ruling-a-dignified-compromise-that-respects-the-rights-of-everyone

I'm pleased he's said it. He's not said quite enough for me to forget how grumpy he got when he was pressed about what he meant by 'single sex' during the general election campaign, or the way John Healey (his shadow defence secretary at the time) dismissed the issue as a distraction. But I do believe him (Starmer) when he says he's pleased it's come about because I think this has dug him out of a very big hole.

Boaty McBoatface telling the press office to issue a quote in Starmer's name is not as good as Starmer saying the thing on camera, but it may be the best we can get. I haven't seen such an example of a PM being dragged kicking and screaming to admit something since... well, since Boris.

Whilst obviously glad he's in agreement and not trying to push against this sensible ruling, my first thoughts almost always are what a pathetic, flip flop, jellyfish of a man.

Well, clearly it has been said under instruction from him. What I meant was you won’t find a TV clip of him saying it.

His line is clearly that his statement referred to legal status, and that previously he was following Haldane.

I don’t think you will get much more than that.

He won’t apologise to Rosie Duffield because he won’t believe there is a political need. He will think that this matters hugely to sone people, but that most people don’t know who she is - and I suspect he is right.

The SC judgement happened because a few women worked very hard to take their case to court, not because of political will. Most politicians, including Conservatives don’t ant to spend time on this issue - if they did the SC wouldn’t have needed to clarify the legislation.

BBC report it thta his exact wording was:

"a woman is a female adult, and in addition to that transwomen are women, and that is not just my view - that is actually the law".

and now he (apparently) says:

Asked if Sir Keir still believed that a transgender woman was a woman, the PM's official spokesman said: "No, the Supreme Court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman."
The spokesman added: "That is set out clearly by the court judgment."

So Keir Starmer can't hold a view unless he's either been tol by Stonewall or he's been told by a court.

Don't get me wrong, this is progress, but his lack of conviction and betrayal of women on this, is plain to see. Not only that but he's almost certainly made transwomen feel completely betrayed too.

So he's successfully managed to piss of both camps when, if he'd actually had the guts to say this before he wouldn't have done that.

We all know he's doing this, whilst quietly looking at the US and the UK opinion polls and realising that this is a complete vote loser - young people are less likely to swing as voters than middle aged women. (BTW this is also probably the reason the LD are being twits about this, because they think they can pick up some of that youth vote - I do think its likely strategic).