Sport England: Equality Act 2010

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Monday 19th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I am happy to confirm that that is the position. I apologise if I misled people on that count.

[Baroness Thornton (Lab)]

My Lords, as my noble friend the Minister has said, and as the noble Baroness has just said, the guidance at the moment has no legal standing whatever. As my noble friend will be aware, the Equality Act 2010 has always allowed trans people to be excluded from sport, and the Supreme Court judgment has not changed that. However, does my noble friend the Minister feel that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim to exclude trans people from, for example, chess, angling and orienteering?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

This is an important point, and I am sure something that the EHRC will consider as part of its upcoming consultation, which I am sure my noble friend and others will engage with. It will be for event organisers such as the English Chess Federation to consider the implications of the ruling and the EHRC guidance when it is published.