Charles Fifield welcomed news the Conservative party will be defining the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act as biological sex.
Charles said "This is about safeguarding women and girls. Transpeople deserve our compassion and understanding but this cannot be at the cost of basic safeguarding. Honour based safeguarding systems have repeatedly failed in the past and as such I cannot and will not support Self-ID."
Charles has previously tried to raise concerns over this issue during his time as a Cheshire West Councillor. In July 2022 he spoke on a Council Motion regarding breastfeeding to try to get reference to "people and families" changed to "women and mothers" but Labour voted against it. During the debate Labour Councillors also chastised Councillor Mandy Clare, who seconded his amendment, claiming she was transphobic. She had previously been a Labour Councillor but left Labour over this issue and now represents the Party of Women.
In October 2022, Charles seconded a Council Motion on the Importance of Safeguarding within our Transgender Policies, especially in Schools, over safeguarding concerns. The Motion was proposed by Cllr Clare but Labour's Councillors voted not to debate it. Instead they voted to pass it to the Cabinet Member for Children & Families for consideration of the issues raised but no revised policy has yet been published.
Whilst Charles is no longer a Councillor, he was disappointed to note that only last month, shortly after the Cass Review was published, that Labour Councillors on Cheshire West again voted down a Motion brought by Councillor Clare on this issue.
Full Conservative press release:
On 3 June 2024, we pledged to define the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act as biological sex.
- Labour passed the Equality Act more than a decade ago, but it is now clear there is a lack of clarity in the law, leaving single-sex providers vulnerable to challenge, risking the safety of women and girls.
- That is why we will introduce primary legislation to clarify that the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act means biological sex, in addition to legislating that a person can only have one sex in the eyes of the law in the United Kingdom.
- This will ensure that single-sex services and single-sex spaces can be provided, ensuring protection for women and girls, as well as enabling the debate on these issues to move onto a more informed and constructive basis.
We are doing this by:
- Introducing primary legislation to clarify that the protected characteristic of sex means biological sex in the Equality Act to ensure proper protections for women and girls. This follows the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission who advised that defining ‘sex’ as biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act ‘would bring greater legal clarity’ (ECHR, News, 4 April 2023, link; The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 2024, link).
- Protecting single-sex spaces such as women’s-only wards in hospitals, to ensure women are treated with dignity and respect. We believe biological women should almost always be accommodated on same sex wards with other biological women. There are very few circumstances in which mixed sex accommodation can be clinically justified. That is why we are making it more straightforward for hospitals to make a women’s-only ward a space for biological women, so they can be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
- Protecting freedom of association for women and men. We are correcting the current situation to allow single-sex organisations, for example a women’s victim support group, to restrict membership to biological women.
- Ensuring that a person in the United Kingdom can only have one legal sex in the eyes of the law. We are one United Kingdom and it cannot be right to have people legally recognised as different genders in different parts of the country so we will establish in law that gender recognition in a reserved matter.
