Lib Dems embroiled in new trans rights row as leader Ed Davey says he backs conference vote on scrapping protection for women-only spaces

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 07:00 EDT, 21 September 2026 | Updated: 07:17 EDT, 21 September 2026 The Liberal Democrats are embroiled in a fresh trans rights row today after leader Sir Ed Davey said he would vote in favour of rolling back protections for women-only spaces.Sir Ed said he backed activists who have forced a party conference vote tonight on scrapping 'discriminatory and unworkable' gender guidance unveiled by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).The code, which came into force last month, set out that single-sex toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards and refuges must be used based on a person's birth sex, not the gender with which they identify, following a 2025 Supreme Court ruling.But a motion brought forward by an LGBT Lib Dem activist will ask the party to support rolling it back and bringing in a new code 'that is inclusive, workable and ensures everybody can safely access public facilities and providers are protected from legal risk'.Lib Dem activists warned that the vote was 'a Trojan horse for removing women’s rights to single-sex spaces'. But asked if he wanted the motion to pass, Sir Ed told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I do – I'll be voting for it if I'm in the hall.' Sir Ed said he backed activists who have forced a party conference vote tonight on scrapping 'discriminatory and unworkable' gender guidance Dr Zoe Hollowood, who chairs the campaign group Liberal Voice for Women,said that if Sir Ed voted for the motion it would mean he didn't care about women's rightsHe added: 'The Supreme Court created something that we didn't expect.'We've been working out how to make sure it's implemented properly and we've been waiting for this guidance – it's taken a long time. 'And we think, talking to businesses, they don't think it's clear enough or helpful enough. So we're responding to what other people are saying.'But his support prompted a backlash from women's rights campaigners. Dr Zoe Hollowood, chair of the campaign group Liberal Voice for Women said: 'It seems Ed plans to abandon the commitment he made to women in our 2024 manifesto that the Party would uphold the Equality Act. 'The theme for this conference is ''we care, we fight''. What women will take from his support for the motion is that Ed does not care about our rights and is wholly unwilling to fight for them.'This motion is a Trojan horse for removing women’s rights to single-sex spaces.'Ed Davey told the BBC that the guidance supporting the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of sex in the Equality Act lacks clarity and is not fit for purpose. 'The issue is not that the guidance is unclear, it is very clear, the issue is that organisations who want loopholes to allow some males into female spaces cannot find them.'The motion has been brought forward by Artie Khovanov, a Cambridge graduate and failed former Lib Dem council candidate in Edinburgh.The current policy officer for the LGBT Lib Dems, he last year branded the EHRC guidance a 'constitutional outrage'. His proposal sets out that the Lib Dems should back a cross-party review of 'how the law should better protect trans people's rights ...proposing amendments to legislation where necessary'.It also calls for a new EHRC code on trans rights and says Parliament's Women and Equalities Committee should get the right of veto over choosing the body's chair.