Overview
- Labour’s National Executive Committee approved the plan on Friday after a legal review, barring trans women from keynote sessions, policy debates and voting at the 2026 women’s conference in Liverpool while allowing access to exhibition areas, fringe meetings and an evening reception.
- A party spokesman said the conference will run in 2026 in a way that addresses the under‑representation of women and complies with the law.
- The Labour for Trans Rights group criticised the decision as cutting trans members out of party democracy and urged the NEC to reverse it.
- Baroness Falkner, who stepped down as EHRC chair last week, said Labour has abandoned women and failed victims of grooming gangs.
- The EHRC says it submitted statutory guidance three months ago, but ministers have not published it, with a government spokesman insisting they are ensuring legally sound guidance; the government has accepted Baroness Casey’s recommendations, including an NCA probe into 1,200 historic grooming cases.