Political parties that use all-women shortlists are expected to be told transgender women cannot be included, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of “sex”.

The news comes after the UK’s top judges ruled the legal definition of a woman, and the protected characteristic of “sex”, under the terms of the 2010 Equality Act excluded trans women and referred only to biological women.

The result of the landmark case is likely to have wide-ranging implications for the trans and non-binary community, with the British Transport Police having already implementing an interim policy which means transgender women can be strip-searched by male officers.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the UK’s equalities watchdog, is expected to provide updated guidance for political parties, in the wake of the court’s decision.

All-women shortlists were first used in the 90s when not even 10 per cent of MPs were women. The lists function by allowing only women to stand for a seat in particular constituencies for a particular party.

Labour used the lists in half its winnable seats ahead of the 1997 general election, resulting in a large increase in the number of female MPs when the party took office.

In the past, Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) have included trans women on the shortlists, prompting gender-critical groups to claim the move “reeks of male authority and male supremacy”.

In 2023, trans woman Amber Roberts was targeted by For Women Scotland after she was included on an all-women shortlist for the SNP NEC, the party’s ruling body, in Lothian.

In response to a letter sent to the EHRC by then equalities minister Kemi Badenoch about amending the Equality Act’s definition of “sex” to mean biological sex, a spokesperson for the watchdog said it was an “anomaly” that trans women could access a women-only shortlist but transgender man could not.

“Currently, trans women with a GRC [gender recognition certificate] could benefit from ‘women-only’ shortlists and other measures aimed at increasing female participation. Trans men with a GRC could not. A biological definition of sex would correct this perceived anomaly,” the equalities watchdog replied prophetically.

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