House Of Communions, Early Day Motion tabled - Draft Code of Practice on Services, public functions and associations

The True Legal Precedent: Organisations are ultimately bound by primary legislation and court precedents—such as the landmark 2025 Supreme Court ruling (For Women Scotland), which established that "sex" in the Equality Act refers to biological sex.

And we are all bound by reality, which shows that 'sex' is 'sex', 'man' is man, 'woman' is an adult human female, and humans are a species of mammal that comes in two sexes.

Have just seen this:

The Timeline for Coming Into Force

Clearing parliamentary scrutiny on 9 July does not mean the guidelines take effect immediately.

• The Next Step: The Equalities Minister must sign a formal commencement order to officially set a date for the code to come into force.
• Current Status: Until that official date is set, the existing 2011 Code of Practice remains the active statutory guidance.

Legal Weight vs. "Legally Correct"

Statutory codes of practice occupy a unique space in UK law:

• Not Primary Legislation: The EHRC code itself is not law and cannot alter the wording of the Equality Act 2010.
• Admissible in Court: Once it is officially in force, courts and employment tribunals must take the code into account when relevant, but they are not strictly bound to follow it if they interpret the underlying legislation differently.
• The True Legal Precedent: Organisations are ultimately bound by primary legislation and court precedents—such as the landmark 2025 Supreme Court ruling (For Women Scotland), which established that "sex" in the Equality Act refers to biological sex.

(taken from Women's Resource Centre and a trade union web site have lost the link for)

Great news re Translucent.

Gained another 2 Labour signatures 1 Lib dem.

164 signatures 2 withdrawn
(Most recent: 6 Jul 2026)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 92
Liberal Democrat: 56
Scottish National Party: 7
Plaid Cymru: 4
Green Party: 3
Independent: 2
Your Party: 2
Social Democratic & Labour Party: 1

2 days to July 9th.

If Parliament does not disapprove the code by then 40 days after being laid, the UK Government will set a date for it come into force. The EHRC will publish it on its website. Once in force, the Services Code will be a statutory code that can be used in legal proceedings.

Translucent are trying to bring a judicial review to stop the code - thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5551219-translucent-seeks-judicial-review-of-the-ehrc-code-of-practice

This will probably fail and have the effect of further reinforcing its legal status. T

The biggest danger from the EDM I think is the number sign it that it will make the government feel they need the awful puberty blockers experiment and the conversion therapy bill to pass to keep the TAs in line.

Sigh. People don't need a checklist to verify someone's sex in over 99% of instances.

@fromorbit the Nadia Whittome article: "In a recent session of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, I asked the chair of the EHRC to specify which aspects of ‘physical appearance’ might be used to identify someone’s biological sex, but she provided no further clarity and instead spoke about using ‘common sense’."

My main takeaway from that article is that Nadia has absolutely no "common sense".

Gained another 2 Labour signatures.

161 signatures 2 withdrawn
(Most recent: 2 Jul 2026)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 90
Liberal Democrat: 55
Scottish National Party: 7
Plaid Cymru: 4
Green Party: 3
Independent: 2
Your Party: 2
Social Democratic & Labour Party: 1

5 days to July 9th.

If Parliament does not disapprove the code by then 40 days after being laid, the UK Government will set a date for it come into force. The EHRC will publish it on its website. Once in force, the Services Code will be a statutory code that can be used in legal proceedings.

161 MPs out of 650 is 24.77%

Remember Labour front benchers and PPS are not allowed to sign any EDMs they amount to 148 MPS.

There are 403 Labour MPs - 255 could sign this EDM freely if they wanted. Only 90 have. Even if they forced a debate and vote they would lose.

Nadia Whittome's latest comment on the guidance. Reveals that the government have more or less ignored her.

https://leftlion.co.uk/features/2026/07/nadia-on-the-new-guidance-on-single-sex-spaces/

No mention of the fact that trans terror group Bash Back have recently called her "pathetic" for supporting the conversion therapy bill.
https://nitter.net/lwhb__/status/2072007073605259354

Southwark Council complained about the code and got a government response:

Responding to Southwark’s letter, a Government spokesperson said: "The Equality Act enshrines our rights in law so that people can live free from discrimination and harassment. Our focus has always been making sure organisations have clear, accessible guidance on how to implement the law.

“We recognise the strength of feeling on this topic, which many expressed during debates on the draft code in the House earlier this month.

“The 40-day laying period for the draft code will give another opportunity for MPs, as well as the public, to make their views heard, and they will be able to continue to raise questions to Ministers in the usual way during this time."

https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/396-governance-news/100890-london-borough-warns-new-guidance-from-equalities-watchdog-creates-legal-and-operational-uncertainty-for-councils

Of his choice, really? What if it's Stonewall?

£20 on no.

I will donate this to a charity of his choice if he does one.

You'd think so. Starmer did one, didn't he?

Wonder if MN will get a webchat with him?

Burnham creates Reddit account to hold 'ask me anything' session

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-burnham-starmer-labour-tories-badenoch-farage-12593360

PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham will hold an "ask me anything" session on Reddit tomorrow as he seeks to share more about his vision with voters.

The Makerfield MP created his account two days ago, and posted a video on the very active "politics" subreddit asking for users to submit questions before the session at 5pm tomorrow. [Friday, 3 July 2026]

Might still be time to ask him about the Conversion Bill?

(Wonder if he'll set up a Mumsnet account?)

(Don't hold your breath)

I think you've nailed it there, @fromorbit .

I posted about that on the conversion Therapy Thread

Reception at 10 Downing Street reports TAs lobbying hard for the bill. The TA also claimed Starmer was sympathetic about the doomed EDM motion to stop the guidance.

See the report
https://nitter.net/JamesEsses/status/2071997476815405542

NB I think Esses misunderstands Starmer's polite noncommittal comment and other points of Labour politics here. Esses doesn't point out that TAs are massive liars and will tend to exaggerate their position and influence - it is real but there are limits.

Starmer doesn't care about trans stuff or women's rights much. He will take path of least resistance. He has said similar polite nothings thing to gender crit women and then does NOTHING.

The Trans lobby does have power in Labour, but it is NOT in control. It can be resisted.

The guidance is going through, BUT in an attempt to make Labour look like they care about "trans stuff" they are also pushing the awful conversion therapy bill. It is no coincidence it is all happening at once. Phillipson and Blake planned this. Labour are trying to create a mythical third way between caring about women and supporting trans crazy ideas. In doing so they are angering everyone and maybe attempting a project which can't work.

Agree 100%

It's infuriating isn't it. I defaulted to voting LD for many years, but with their dismissal of women's rights I can't in good conscience choose them any more. I'm politically homeless and angry about it. People who are both left wing and pro-womens rights don't have anyone to vote for.

It’s semantics really; even at weekends parliament is technically sitting because it is not in official recess. It gets very confusing.

Many thanks. The information I found said it was 40 sitting days, but that was obviously an error. I've reported my post and asked MNHQ to delete.

Never mind @Grammarnut I found your message in my notifications - couldn't see anything offensive in it either!

But yeah, she's useless at women's rights, it's all about Trans and being inclusive for my MP.

Funny, I was neutral about her before contacting her re women's rights and now would never vote Lib Dems! Still, they can't please everyone and seems that majority of Lib Dem MPs are trying to please the tiny % of trans identifying people rather than 51% of population that is female.

Anyway, she's closed down the conversation with me now as I've sent a "significant number of emails" on this topic and they've made Zoe's position clear (no they haven't). Here's a summary of her stance on the topic:

• "there are some spaces that should remain exclusively for biological women and that clear guidance is needed in this area"
• "trans rights are human rights"
• EHRC's guidance must be "inclusive, workable, and provide clarity"

Well done Zoe, you've converted me from a neutral floating voter to despising Lib Dems 👏👏

@Grammarnut i saw you replied to my post but it got deleted before I got here! Any chance you can rephrase to please MNHQ? Thx :-)

Next Thursday.

It does include weekends and only excludes recesses over 5 days iirc. Someone checked with the parliamentary office. So still around the 9th July.

I note she believes it doesn't matter who you love. Does Zoe Franklin realise this particular kindness is the open pathway for paedophiles: love is love?

Last chance to really fuck Burnham over by taking away the option of 'already passed guv, nothing I can do' and forcing him to make a decision that will piss off one side or the other?

Oh, is it the 20th? I thought a few people here had worked it out?