Template Email to MPs on Parliamentary Scrutiny of the EHRC's Code of Practice

TransActual have developed a template email that you can send to your MP to call for greater UK Parliamentary scrutiny of the EHRC’s Code of Practice, as there’s currently no guarantee that there will be a debate in UK Parliament if the Code is approved by the UK Minister for Equalities.

You can find the template below, as well as a text for a letter which your MP can use to contact the UK Minister for Equalities and the Prime Minister. If you don’t wish to include this text, then please remove the line “In case it is helpful to you, I have included some example wording below.” from the bottom of the template.

The template gives you an idea of what you can say, but the more personal you make it, the more effective it is likely to be.

There’s also a section under the “A devastating impact on day-to-day lives” heading where you can add your own thoughts and experiences, whether you are a trans person or an ally – but please delete the “Speaking from personal experience…” text if you don’t wish to add anything.

You will also need to add your MPs name to the greeting at the top of the email, and your name to the sign-off at the bottom. This doesn’t have to be your legal name, just how you wish to be referred to, but it can be a good idea to include your address (or just your postcode) so they know that you’re their constituent.

You can find your MPs email by putting your postcode or location into this website: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

Template email

Subject: Re: Parliamentary Scrutiny Needed for Updated EHRC Code of Practice

Dear [MP NAME],

As you may be aware, in April the UK Supreme Court ruled on the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act. In so doing, they overturned 15 years of legal understanding. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is now drafting an updated statutory Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations. It’s likely that this will be laid before Parliament under the “negative procedure” very soon.

This new Code impacts the fundamental rights of both trans and non-trans people in the UK. It will be burdensome, costly and unpopular for those tasked with making it happen. There is also significant legal uncertainty over its lawfulness. And yet, unless it is challenged, the new Code will become Statutory Guidance with no oversight from Parliament.

I am therefore asking you to write to the Women and Equalities Minister and to the Prime Minister to ask for proper Parliamentary scrutiny, debate and a free vote on any new Code.

I also ask you to support any motion tabled in Parliament objecting to a Code that risks breaching people’s human rights.

 

A devastating impact on day-to-day lives

The Supreme Court claimed that their ruling “does not cause disadvantage to trans people” and “does not remove or diminish the important protections available under the EA2010”. However, the ruling and initial EHRC guidance have already had devastating impacts on the day-to-day lives of people in the UK. Not just trans individuals; but non-binary, intersex, gender non-conforming, and disabled people as well.

Speaking from personal experience… [add in any personal testimony you have]

These reports from TransActual also document with heartbreaking clarity the harassment, fear, segregation and exclusion trans people and others are now facing: https://transactual.org.uk/impacts-of-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-trans-people/

These show how many of the proposed changes do not meet the EA2010 requirements for positive action, because they impose artificial standards of femininity (or masculinity). Worse, prohibiting people from making their own decisions on who they can include in a group threatens people’s rights to freedom of association. We now have an absurd situation where small groups of women who claim to be women’s rights campaigners are threatening other, larger women’s groups with court action because they have voted democratically to include trans women in their service or organisation. Therefore, women’s human rights are also under threat.

 

A legal and logistical minefield

The draft Code of Practice released by the EHRC created a logistical, financial and legal minefield for organisations, businesses and public services. This is detailed by Trans+ Solidarity Alliance and Safe Space UK here: https://www.transsolidarityalliance.com/_files/ugd/bcf2fc_50605c9064eb4c2286d270e51666a89c.pdf and echoed by groups such as Museums galleries Scotland here: https://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/news/mgs-responds-to-the-ehrc-code-of-practice-consultation/

 

Conflict with established human rights

The Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has specifically raised serious human rights concerns about the EHRC’s planned Code, writing:

“We are concerned that basic rights to dignity and respect for all may be undermined … [T]he interpretation of this judgment and the resulting changes in policy, public discourse and the behaviour of duty-bearers are highly likely to have an impact on the rights of people in Scotland … In our conversations with legal and academic experts, we heard a clear and universal concern about the risks to rights following the judgment.” https://www.scottishhumanrights.com/media/3044/positionstatement-policy-sexandgender-11082025.pdf

These concerns are elaborated in detail in this report by Equality Network: https://www.equality-network.org/the-erosion-of-trans-human-rights-in-the-uk/ and have been echoed by 18 UN Independent Human Rights Experts, as laid out here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/05/un-experts-warn-legal-uncertainty-and-rights-implications-following-uk.

To its shame, the UK has now sunk to an all-time low on the ILGA-Europe Rainbow map as a result of the Supreme Court ruling: https://www.ilga-europe.org/files/uploads/2025/05/202505_UK-LGR-points-in-2025-RM.pdf

 

Legal uncertainty

Meanwhile, the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland (ECNI) have raised questions of legal uncertainty, including the compatibility of the Supreme Court ruling and EHRC Code with other equality legislation, and with the Windsor Framework, which commits to no diminution in relation to certain EU equality protections that are rooted in the Good Friday Agreement: https://www.equalityni.org/SCJ

The EHRC’s interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling is also currently subject to a significant legal challenge by the Good Law Project: https://goodlawproject.org/update/update-our-challenge-against-the-ehrcs-interim-guidance/

In sum, the Supreme Court judgment and the EHRC’s interpretation is giving rise to huge amounts of uncertainty, confusion and fear. Never mind the serious risk of human rights violations.

 

On principle, any change to law and/or policy that risks the human rights of any group should be subject to proper Parliamentary oversight. Yet, unless MPs like yourself act now, a new Code of Practice will enshrine all of this risk and confusion into Statutory Guidance with no oversight from Parliament.

I therefore call on you to write to the Minister for Women and Equalities and the Prime Minister, asking them to ensure that any new EHRC Code of Practice laid before Parliament is subject to:

1. full scrutiny
2. meaningful debate
3. a free vote by MPs

In case it is helpful to you, I have included some example wording below.

I also ask that you support any motion tabled in Parliament objecting to a Code that infringes on human rights standards.

 

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

Example wording for a letter to the Minister for Equalities and Prime Minister

Dear Secretary of State and Prime Minister,

You will shortly be responsible for laying a new Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations before Parliament.

As you know, serious concerns have been raised about this new Code from multiple affected groups, regarding its impact on the lives, dignity and safety of both trans and non-trans people in the UK. It will have a major financial and logistical impact on UK businesses. It also creates risks in terms of the UK’s human rights and wider legal obligations.

Currently, the Code will be laid in Parliament under the ‘negative procedure’ for statutory instruments, meaning that, under normal processes, it would become statutory guidance with no oversight from Parliament.

Given the potentially momentous changes, legal risks and impact on communities this new Code is likely to usher in, we ask you to instead allow for full scrutiny, meaningful debate and a free vote on this new Code, allowing MPs to properly uphold their democratic and Parliamentary duties.

Yours sincerely.

[MP Name]