Page 3 | Bridget Phillipson delivers Commons statement on Supreme Court's gender ruling

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 22/04/2025 21:38

lifeturnsonadime · 22/04/2025 18:18

Nadia Whittome asking how removing trans women from women's toilets is proportionate and legitimate?

Bridget Philipson - businesses have to provide for ALL and can do so using unisex as well as single sex or enclosed spaces.

Edited

It's proportionate and legitimate if you consider that women aren't just service humans, Nadia.

Also, maybe go and read the judgment? We're not here to do your homework for you. Educate yourself.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 22/04/2025 21:41

IwantToRetire · 22/04/2025 19:11

Unusually, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, responded to Phillipson’s statement on behalf of the opposition. She was minister for women and equalities in the last government and often sounds more animated when talking about transgender issues than anything else.

She started with the customary thanks for advance sight of the ministerial statement. But she said it was “mostly a shameless work of fiction”.

She explained:

I could not believe my eyes or my ears this afternoon. In 2021 the prime minister said it is not right to say only women have a cervix. In 2022 he said it is the law that trans women are women. In 2023 he said, and I quote, “99% of women don’t have a penis”.

I know what a woman is, and I always have the people of this country know what a woman is. We didn’t need the supreme court to tell us that, but this government did - a Labour government so desperate to jump on a bandwagon that they abandoned common sense, along with the SNP, who put rapists in women’s prisons, and, of course, the Liberal Democrats.

She claimed that Tories fought for women at every point but that it faced “hostility from activist groups”.

She said that, when she was in government, she argued for sex to be defined as biological sex. And she said she blocked the SNP introducing from introducing “their mad self identity laws”.

David Lammy, the foriegn secretary, even described opponents of gender self-ID as dinosaurs, she said. She goes on:

Labour now says that they knew what a woman is and the transgender should use services and facilities designated to their biological sex. They’ve never said this before. This is a U-turn, but we welcome it. Now that we have legal clarity.

Badenoch said that Starmer should apologise to Rosie Duffield, the former Labour MP who quit the party because, she said, she was virtually ostracised for her gender critical views.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/apr/22/supreme-court-single-sex-provision-bridget-phillipson-uk-politics-latest-updates-news?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-6807c7e08f0821bd49f8111f#block-6807c7e08f0821bd49f8111f

Kemi has got all the receipts.

HelenaWaiting · 22/04/2025 22:00

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 22/04/2025 21:38

It's proportionate and legitimate if you consider that women aren't just service humans, Nadia.

Also, maybe go and read the judgment? We're not here to do your homework for you. Educate yourself.

Show quote history

It's my understanding that one cannot educate a plank of wood.

illinivich · 22/04/2025 22:27

Theresa May was responsible for much of the promotion of gender ideology, both as equalities minister and PM.

But, to be fair, the EqA and GRA was in place well before and it was inevitable that the ideology would have taken hold regardless of which party was in charge. Would Ed Miliband or Jeremy Corbyn have led a GC party?

Both labour and conservation have ideology captured MPs and MPs willing to stand up to it. Id say on balance the Conservatives were more willing to let GC MPs speak up.

I dont think the Conservative have much to brag about, but the brass neck of Labour to frame it as they have is bonkers. Why couldnt they just say that after reading the judgment and reflecting they fully support the clarity. Why prove themselves liars?

How are Zarah Sultana and Nadia Whittome ever expected to keep up with such a sudden change in policy?

WandaSiri · 22/04/2025 22:32

What was Labour doing during the 14 years? Oh, yes - cheering on the trans madness. Supporting men in women's prisons, hospital wards and shortlists. Defending the GRA. Promising to make it easier to get GRCs, promising a trans Conversion Therapy bill - to which they have just reaffirmed commitment. The newly elected minister for sport declined to give a steer to sports governing bodies about respecting the female category.

The Tories were complicit in the spread of GII but it just doesn't lie in the mouth of Labour ministers to try to blame them for a movement that they themselves started and were fully behind until a week ago. I can complain about the Tories, Labour cannot.

Screamingabdabz · 22/04/2025 22:33

Teajenny7 · 22/04/2025 20:01

I watched all of the speech and debate. I actually thought that Phillipson did very well.
I thought Badenoch couldn't justify that her Government hadn't done enough in 14 years.
There were better responses from other MPs.
I was saddened that some male and female MPs didn't realise that many woman feel unsafe.

Agree. All the backbench drips with anguished faces and handwringing about the ‘harm and fear’ this Bill has caused while completely overlooking the harm and fear it’s actually lifted from the far greater proportion of their constituencies. Shameful.

PatsFruitCake · 22/04/2025 22:48

This has been a global phenomenon and it would have happened whichever party was in power over the last decade. TBH I think things would have been worse if the Tories hadn't been in power at Westminster (look at at Scotland under the SNP). At least they started to turn the tide with the Cass Review.

I am astonished at Labour's reverse ferreting though.

southbiscay · 22/04/2025 22:53

Of course the possibility exists that Phillipson was a terf all along and just toeing the party line up until now.

Manderleyagain · 22/04/2025 23:08

Iwantoretire you said:
"the EHRC said it was impossible to write clear guidelines and that the GRA/GRC should be disapplied to the EA."
"At this point in time the Government has still not formally replied to these recommendations"
"the EHRC has said it is impossible to produce clear guidelines because of the impact of the GRA/GRC on sex equality.
And the the Government should "disapply them".
ie they want to go further than the Court."

I will be writing to my MP (labour). Was there a published letter or report by EHRC on this that I can link to?

Although things might have changed as EHRC is now planning on producing new guidence this summer as a result of the ruling. Or is this different more specific guidende?

Datun · 23/04/2025 00:35

Frankly, I think they've all been asleep at the wheel. Allowing ideologues and zealots to push everything through, fuelled by male fetishists, while they all thought it didn't matter.

And yes, the Tories woke up first, and I don't think Kemi herself was ever asleep. And yes, some people will take a while, because they think they must be missing something.

But that time has longggg since passed. Many people in the Labour party appear to be still snoring, or worse, just openly hostile to women. Wide awake and revelling in it.

Waiting for this ruling was a big mistake, because the U-turn is whiplash inducing.

it's really tedious that they haven't yet worked out how to change their minds with grace. Because bare faced denial is the worst thing you can do.

At most, making a mistake, and admitting to having things misrepresented to you, makes you look a bit gullible. But the bare faced denial makes you look gullible, stupid, untrustworthy and arrogant.

And I will still, never, understand what the fuck they're so frightened of.

They're the ones with all the power ffs.

SternJoyousBee · 23/04/2025 00:40

lifeturnsonadime · 22/04/2025 18:18

Nadia Whittome asking how removing trans women from women's toilets is proportionate and legitimate?

Bridget Philipson - businesses have to provide for ALL and can do so using unisex as well as single sex or enclosed spaces.

Edited

Nadia Whittome is a disgrace as well as thick as mince. No one has to prove it is “ proportionate and legitimate “ to remove TW from female toilets. There should be an intelligence assessment to be able to stand for parliament

I will never forgive or forget her standing with aggressive men to protest LWS in Nottingham.

thirdfiddle · 23/04/2025 00:42

Well well well. Astonishing stuff.

Like the judgement, really about as good as we could have possibly have hoped for. Yes the obvious suspects were hand wringing and toilet-obsessing. But solid support across the house from new faces as well as old. Loving the voices of common sense, and some Fife support for Sandie Peggie.

The toilets issue is going to be a tough one. How do you say no to a crowd that's never heard the word, and get it to stick?

The our government/your government stuff is SO TEDIOUS though. Is there no way we can arrange to be governed by grownups?

peanutbuttertoasty · 23/04/2025 01:01

EsmaCannonball · 22/04/2025 21:13

I've seen a handful of MPs say that niche lobby groups had far too much influence over politicians. I'm sorry but if a lobby group can get you to say that men can grow cervixes and women should be locked up with rapists then you are either too stupid or, more likely, too unprincipled to be an MP.

These politicians are Tony Benn's weathervanes and will sell women out again if another misogynistic movement becomes fashionable.

See also grooming gangs. Their spinelessness puts us all in danger one way or another. Our national security relies on this bunch of clowns FGS

fromorbit · 23/04/2025 08:19

Two key points in the debate:

Graham Stuart
(Beverley and Holderness) (Con)

I thank the Minister for her statement and her emphasis on the need for sensitivity and indeed good temper in dealing with this topic. In that spirit, may I ask her to salute the courage of J. K. Rowling, Sharron Davies and indeed the hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield)?

Bridget Phillipson

Over many decades, fantastic women have campaigned for the protection and creation of single-sex spaces, have fought against violence against women and girls, and have led some brilliant campaigns. I pay tribute to all those women—many of them are unsung heroes whose names we will never hear anywhere and will never be mentioned in the Chamber—for their fantastic campaigning efforts. It is only because of the amazing work of feminists from the 1970s onwards that we have rape crisis centres and women’s refuges.

Jonathan Hinder
(Pendle and Clitheroe) (Lab)

We have made so much progress as a society in breaking down sexist stereotyping. The stereotypes that said women had set roles and should look and act in a certain way were being broken down, exposed as the fake construct they really are. Sex is the only factor that distinguishes men from women. Beyond that, we should be able to live without conforming to those stereotypes. Then a movement came along that argued that all those feminine, girly things and those sexist stereotypes we had been fighting to break down were, in fact, the things that make a woman, and not sex. That is regressive, backward and nonsensical. Will the Minister join me in saluting those courageous women who stood up and pointed out the absurdity of that argument, and commit to rooting out that ideology from our public institutions?

Bridget Phillipson

Over many decades, feminist campaigners, from the ’70s onwards, worked incredibly hard to ensure that women were able to divorce, that when that happened they were able to see their children, that they got protection at work, that they did not face discrimination, that they could access women’s refuges and rape crisis centres, and that rape was finally, back in the early ’90s, banned in marriage. I pay tribute to the amazing feminist campaigners and women over many decades who have brought us to a much stronger position, and to the brilliant trailblazers from across political parties who have ensured that we have far more women represented in this place than ever before.

EasternStandard · 23/04/2025 08:40

Sausagenbacon · 22/04/2025 21:36

I watched and I just feel rage.
How dare BP say that this has been Labour's position all along. Does she think we're stupid?
Doesn't she know that everyone following this is well aware that she said the opposite recently?
Why can't she just say 'sorry, we fucked up'?

It’s the lying I can’t stand. Of course it wasn’t. How was it Labour’s position ‘all along’.

I hope they are punished in losing votes.

A timeline of Starmer's views:
2020: Self-ID and trans women are women
2021: 'Only women have a cervix' is something that should not be said
2022: Vast majority of women don’t have a penis
2023: 99% of women don’t have a penis
2024: Only women have a cervix and a woman is an adult female but making “jokes” about a political leader who doesn’t know the definition of woman is an “anti-trans” joke
2024: The law doesn’t need to be clarified as it’s already clear
2025: A woman is an adult female and I welcome the Supreme Court for giving clarity and now the law is clear

EasternStandard · 23/04/2025 08:42

loveyouradvice · 22/04/2025 19:24

Kemi was on fire!!! Fabulously clear and wide-ranging.

I am not a Conservative but I do believe this is an issue she is personally passionate about, and that she genuinely will hold Labour (who I no longer trust) to account. I feel SO glad that she is Tory leader at this time, as I do not think that any of the others would have been half as powerful

Kemi has always been strong on this and unlike Starmer actually consistent.

illinivich · 23/04/2025 09:52

southbiscay · 22/04/2025 22:53

Of course the possibility exists that Phillipson was a terf all along and just toeing the party line up until now.

At least one person close to labour has said this on twitter.

But if she hadn't the bravery to stand up and say it when it was difficult to do, what's the point? Its not as if she stayed quiet or was vague, she clearly said men with a GRC should use womens spaces. She never even acknowledged that women and girls would find it distressing.

She has been an MP for some time, benefited from AWS, is the minister of women and Equalities, not some newbie young junior minister.

Peregrina · 23/04/2025 10:14

It’s the lying I can’t stand.

Me too. I certainly remember a large number of posters before the last election saying that they were voting Tory because the Tories knew what a woman was.
Not Labour, Not SNP, Not LibDems, Not Greens.

Peregrina · 23/04/2025 10:15

benefited from AWS

All Woman Shortlist. I wonder how she would have felt if she had lost out to a Transwoman?

Original poster

IwantToRetire · 23/04/2025 18:23

I will be writing to my MP (labour). Was there a published letter or report by EHRC on this that I can link to?

Although things might have changed as EHRC is now planning on producing new guidence this summer as a result of the ruling. Or is this different more specific guidende?

I realised much later that it might in fact be difficult to write to the Government about "disapplying" the GRA/C as in fact it was leaked. (This is partly why the whatsapp group that also got leaked were saying the Baroness Falkner was the real danger.) I will see if I can find the news paper that reported.

And yes, the EHRC having to rush out new guidelines will be to reflect the court ruling. So may in fact just tweek existing guidelines on advertising jobs, services etc..

The real worry is that as Baroness Falkner will be leaving th EHRC at the end of the year, Labour will put in a TWAW follower in her place.

Worth remembering that in fact the EHRC had been captured, and a lot of the staff tried to get her sacked from her post, and she was attacked in public, (and temporarily suspended) so it shows how fragile women's voices in public organisations is.

OP posts:

Original poster

IwantToRetire · 23/04/2025 18:40

I cant find the quote about "disapplying" and I may have read about the leak on facebook.

But Telegraph article on tightening guidelines. Just a couple of days before the Court case! https://archive.is/oImKG

I think it may have a covering letter to the proposed revised guardlines saying that if the GRA/GRC was "disapplied" none of this "clarification" would be needed.

So even with the outcome of the court case, the GRA/C still exist and are still have to be taken into account in the EA.

Repeal the GRA!

OP posts:

KnottyAuty · 23/04/2025 18:52

Datun · 23/04/2025 00:35

Frankly, I think they've all been asleep at the wheel. Allowing ideologues and zealots to push everything through, fuelled by male fetishists, while they all thought it didn't matter.

And yes, the Tories woke up first, and I don't think Kemi herself was ever asleep. And yes, some people will take a while, because they think they must be missing something.

But that time has longggg since passed. Many people in the Labour party appear to be still snoring, or worse, just openly hostile to women. Wide awake and revelling in it.

Waiting for this ruling was a big mistake, because the U-turn is whiplash inducing.

it's really tedious that they haven't yet worked out how to change their minds with grace. Because bare faced denial is the worst thing you can do.

At most, making a mistake, and admitting to having things misrepresented to you, makes you look a bit gullible. But the bare faced denial makes you look gullible, stupid, untrustworthy and arrogant.

And I will still, never, understand what the fuck they're so frightened of.

They're the ones with all the power ffs.

Yes!

KnottyAuty · 23/04/2025 20:09

illinivich · 23/04/2025 09:52

At least one person close to labour has said this on twitter.

But if she hadn't the bravery to stand up and say it when it was difficult to do, what's the point? Its not as if she stayed quiet or was vague, she clearly said men with a GRC should use womens spaces. She never even acknowledged that women and girls would find it distressing.

She has been an MP for some time, benefited from AWS, is the minister of women and Equalities, not some newbie young junior minister.

Show quote history

Ok that’s interesting.
When she said that, it was the only situation where that seemed ok under the law. I say seemed because it was untested. If that’s as far as she went then I’m not so upset with her….

WarriorN · 23/04/2025 20:37

I believe she was a closet terf, for a few reasons.

I’m also starting to think that KS treated Rosie so badly because he was potentially requesting MPs to remain closet terfs and allow the courts to sort this out. They may have been relying on the tories to sort it before they came to power, and planned it that when in power they allowed the law to be clarified as it has been. Due in part to how ideological Labour are, but also due to how many lefties are TRAs.

I don’t think for one moment, given he’s a lawyer, that he hadn’t consulted those in the know about what the law really meant.

Wes was able to hide behind the Cass review.

BP has been able to use this ruling. I can’t help thinking it’s been deliberately tactical to have her in position of women and equalities as well as schools.

unfortunately in past historical eras, those who stuck their heads above the parapets risked the worst fates. Whilst others played the game of subterfuge. It could be seen as cowardly. It could also be seen as strategic given how captured the left are (and as we are seeing across all sectors!)

WarriorN · 23/04/2025 20:45

fromorbit · 23/04/2025 08:19

Two key points in the debate:

Graham Stuart
(Beverley and Holderness) (Con)

I thank the Minister for her statement and her emphasis on the need for sensitivity and indeed good temper in dealing with this topic. In that spirit, may I ask her to salute the courage of J. K. Rowling, Sharron Davies and indeed the hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield)?

Bridget Phillipson

Over many decades, fantastic women have campaigned for the protection and creation of single-sex spaces, have fought against violence against women and girls, and have led some brilliant campaigns. I pay tribute to all those women—many of them are unsung heroes whose names we will never hear anywhere and will never be mentioned in the Chamber—for their fantastic campaigning efforts. It is only because of the amazing work of feminists from the 1970s onwards that we have rape crisis centres and women’s refuges.

Jonathan Hinder
(Pendle and Clitheroe) (Lab)

We have made so much progress as a society in breaking down sexist stereotyping. The stereotypes that said women had set roles and should look and act in a certain way were being broken down, exposed as the fake construct they really are. Sex is the only factor that distinguishes men from women. Beyond that, we should be able to live without conforming to those stereotypes. Then a movement came along that argued that all those feminine, girly things and those sexist stereotypes we had been fighting to break down were, in fact, the things that make a woman, and not sex. That is regressive, backward and nonsensical. Will the Minister join me in saluting those courageous women who stood up and pointed out the absurdity of that argument, and commit to rooting out that ideology from our public institutions?

Bridget Phillipson

Over many decades, feminist campaigners, from the ’70s onwards, worked incredibly hard to ensure that women were able to divorce, that when that happened they were able to see their children, that they got protection at work, that they did not face discrimination, that they could access women’s refuges and rape crisis centres, and that rape was finally, back in the early ’90s, banned in marriage. I pay tribute to the amazing feminist campaigners and women over many decades who have brought us to a much stronger position, and to the brilliant trailblazers from across political parties who have ensured that we have far more women represented in this place than ever before.

Note that her mother set up a rape crisis centre, which BP worked at pre political career.