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Danielle @danielle-stargazy.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Strong statement for Rachel Taylor after the WEC meeting today

My statement on the EHRC Code of Practice and why I have chosen to sign the Motion of Regret
I went into today's Women and Equalities Committee to listen carefully to what the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had to say about the recently tabled Code of Practice. After that session, I am deeply concerned that our national human rights body is worryingly complacent about a document that the government's own impact assessment says puts transgender people at increased risk of harassment, violence, and sexual abuse.
I am particularly concerned that the question I raised about a lack of provision for trans people fleeing domestic violence seemed to fall on deaf ears. Hollow words of concern are not a sufficient response from a body responsible for upholding all of our rights.
During the session, the Chair repeatedly struggled to answer questions about the glaring contradictions throughout the guidance. It is not good enough to simply defer to notions of
"common sense' at points where the guidance simply isn't fit for purpose. It is blatantly obvious that the code is completely unworkable. And it is not credible to deny that enacting the Code will entrench a policing of harmful gender norms that many of us have fought so hard to overturn for many decades.

The impact assessment for the code repeatedly states that it is likely to increase community tension and conflict across our society, in an age that already feels defined by the return of poisonous division and open bigotry. The EHRC was created to be the champion of equality and tolerance, not a passive bystander to the marginalisation of vulnerable people.
Despite a change of leadership, it remains my view that the EHRC does not seem interested in advocating for and standing up for the rights of LGBT - and particularly transgender - people. As a lifelong campaigner for equality, that is not something I can accept.
I fully expect this guidance to be adopted and know that lending my name to the Motion of Regret (EDM 240) will most likely be a symbolic act. I do not normally sign Early Day Motions, and 1 am frustrated that signing this one is the only avenue available for making my views clear in what is clearly a deeply flawed process.
But I cannot sit by and allow something so openly harmful to be adopted without making my voice heard. And I believe it is incumbent on me to stand in solidarity with transgender people across the country, and particularly my transgender constituents who have told me the real fear and distress they are feeling.
That is why I will be signing the Motion of Regret today and would encourage colleagues who share my concerns to do so too.