Women's and Equalities Select Committee

[ArabellaSaurus]

Welcomes Nadia Whittome, Kim Leadbetter, and Kevin McKenna.

This is very, very bad news for women.

https://x.com/CommonsWEC/status/1983110894835130644

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqll1edxgw4o

'Reform UK also promises to replace the Equality Act and says it would scrap diversity, equality and inclusion rules.'

Yes, I think they are moving into position.

That makes no sense, given the person I quoted is the one who dubbed them EDI hires.

This board is bizarre

TBH Sarah Owen has been around long enough to have achieved some sort of seniority in the PLP, and I suppose putting her in charge of this joke committee is less damaging than allowing her to be a minister.

Id be happy for parliament to review and possibly replace the EqA.

It would be interesting to hear politicans justify why a man with gender needs to be in changing rooms with teen girls. I want these men to go on tv and show the country who they are and what they want.

The justification would have to be for any man with any needs.

As there is no objective definition of gender (thanks to Stonewall et al) in practice the debate can only be the extent to which single sex services and facilities should be replaced by mixed sex facilities.

As there is no objective definition of gender (thanks to Stonewall et al) in practice the debate can only be the extent to which single sex services and facilities should be replaced by mixed sex facilities.

This is what Starmer was saying before the election - that some single sex facilities, like rape crisis centres needed to be single sex. TRA interpret this as all other facilities would be single gender. I cant see how single gender could be justified in the first place. As you say, the reality would be mixed.

It seems to me that the anti-reality lobby at the top of Labour is very strong, and at the moment there's not much standing in their way except a handful of ministers (Streeting, Phillipson, Mahmood) plus McSweeney saying to Starmer "do you want us to be in an even worse polling position?"

I do not like McSweeney, but we might miss him when he's gone.

Even if they are women themselves, if you cannot define what a woman is then how can you go about protecting sex based rights and protections in law? If your definition of 'woman' includes some men, then the word 'woman' becomes meaningless and the law an ass.

Labour has form for appointing people based purely on their 'identity' category. Note the recent election for deputy leader. The candidates had to be not only women ( as in adult human females) but also 'northern'.

You can't trust Reform at all with women's sex based rights and protections. I'm not sure there is anyone in that rag tag collection of malcontents who has given the issue any serious thought. For Farage, everything comes down to the individual's freedom to do whatever they want to do without state interference.

If they do scrap the Equality Act then that does not only impact women; it, of course, impacts every other protected catergory too ( disability, sexual orientation, marital status, age, religion etc). They would surely have to replace it with something, or else just make changes rather than scrap it wholesale

In doing any of that, though, they would be setting themselves up for years of debate and scrutiny: getting bogged down in the details of it all.

Unless they do it on the quite, like so many other things they've done, Labour have a large enough majority to push anything they want through quietly.

I might be wrong but I doubt the plan is to try and change the Equality Act. That would necessitate public debate which we know is not their forte. I think they're more likely to look for ways of undermining the EA and making it impossible to enforce, some of which might be harder at first to spot than an all-out attack. We're going to need to stay on our toes.

I expect so, I can't see anyone getting away with completely removing it. However, if Reform do get in, we may expect a 'bonfire' akin to that which the Trump administration brought in. How that is playing out now, I'm not sure, I find US politics quite exhausting tbh and haven't kept up to date.

The problem is often in organisations interpretation of laws, and what they get away with.

The Conservatives and now labour arent very decisive regarding SSE, leading to men in womens nhs changing rooms. Its probably the case in lots of equality interpretations.

A willing government could make a difference by just being clear, and not needing to do much to the EqA.

You can't trust Reform at all with women's sex based rights and protections. I'm not sure there is anyone in that rag tag collection of malcontents who has given the issue any serious thought. For Farage, everything comes down to the individual's freedom to do whatever they want to do without state interference.

Indeed, and NF himself has never been too keen on the actual tiresome stuff of democracy; representing your constituents, attending debates, being on committees scrutinsing legislation, all that boring stuff. Will his minions be anymore industrious?

It looks as if we shall have to rely on the Tories to save us. Kemi will certainly fight for women.

Kemi will almost certainly be gone after the May elections.

If I had to bet, her replacement will probably be Cleverly. Or, if she can somehow wangle her way back into parliament, Penny Mordaunt.

Oh. MN doesnt' like links to the bookies! 😂

Jenrick is odds on favourite.

Jenrick is definitely the most energetic and effective Shad Cab member. The problem for him is that the people who would support him keep defecting to Reform.

I'm working from the premise that most of the parliamentary party are wets. Cleverly would be their default candidate at the moment. And he's not the worst candidate, he's a bit gaffe prone but no more than most of them.

I've been keeping an eye on Mordaunt because she's been doing the interview round, showing a bit of leg and letting it be known she's eager to serve if she gets the chance. I doubt that will be in her old Portsmouth North stomping ground, where Reform have just won a council by-election with a ridiculous 65% vote share. But, should Rishi decide to pursue other career options, there might be an opening in Richmond and Northallerton, which is one of the handful of Tory seats they might hold at a by-election.

Basically everything Trump does is immediately opposed by the courts and the legal system, and by Democrats who automatically try to block anything he attempts to do. I beleive he had to go the Supreme Court recently on order to put a stop to this type of 'Lawfare'?

There is no hance of them doing anything on the quiet in that way again. There is now too much infrastructure ( Legal Feminist, Sex Matters etc) that has been set up to scrutinise any such attempt.

Jenrick has previously indicated, though, that he doesn't really understand the issue of 'sex based protections' and Mordaunt, of course, was always TWAW.

I can't stand Jenrick, myself...and wish he would defect to Reform.

What do you make of Victoria Atkins? I recall a great speech of hers in the Commons when she was at Health, and she showed real grasp of the issues that matter.