Jim Allister says the impact of transgender laws on women’s rights are 'anything but progressive'

​Jim Allister says that the impact of transgender laws on women’s rights are “anything but progressive”. He made the comments ahead of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on the definition of woman in law, sparked by a legal challenge launched by Scottish feminists.

The North Antrim MP said: “It is a simple biological fact that a man cannot become a woman regardless of what some may claim. This reality is still acknowledged by the vast majority of the general public.

“What is perhaps less well understood is that the issues are profoundly serious. The whole existence of female sport is called into question as a result of the trans movement.

“Most troubling of all though is the danger posed to female only spaces such as bathroom and changing facilities. Single sex spaces were introduced for good reason. It is anything but progressive to remove them.”

The TUV has raised issues around proposed changes to equality legislation in Northern Ireland at the Executive Office (TEO) committee, which is looking at “gaps” in the law – with the aim of creating a single equality act.

Northern Ireland is not subject to the Equality Act which applies in Great Britain, and there have been attempts to simplify legislation here.

The TUV MLA Timothy Gaston invited the Women’s Rights Network to the TEO committee, where they argued in favour of single sex spaces. However, Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance MLAs criticised their contribution.

Mr Gaston also invited the Christian Institute to give evidence – prompting a row over a clash between religious freedoms and gay rights which had up until that point not been considered by the committee.

The lobby groups said that the committee’s proposals to “fill gaps” in equality legislation would be “entirely blind to the consequences” on religious freedoms – because of how MLAs have conducted their inquiry – and that a single equality law could have unintended consequences.