Bridget Phillipson has hit back at claims she is delaying the approval of new guidance on the use of single-sex spaces by trans people in order not to damage her deputy leadership bid.

The minister also issued a rebuke to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which has urged the Cabinet minister to speed up her approval of the guidance following the High Court ruling.

In an exclusive interview with The i Paper , the women and equalities minister accused her political opponents of using the issue to “smear” her reputation.

Phillipson hit back at EHRC chairwoman Baroness Falkner’s suggestions she should speed up the introduction of a new code of practice which sets out how gyms, clubs and hospitals must judge spaces by biology in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling in April

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