Impasse over EHRC single-sex spaces guidance ‘distracting from other issues’

The ongoing impasse over guidance from the UK’s human rights watchdog on access to single-sex spaces is distracting from other pressing issues, including the rise of the far right, insiders have told the Guardian.

Some members of staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are described as “desperate for regime change” ahead of the new chair, Mary-Ann Stephenson, taking up her post in December.

It comes as Labour backbenchers and equalities experts say that the appointment of up to four new board members to the EHRC should be an opportunity to broaden its approach and potentially appoint the watchdog’s first trans commissioner.

The EHRC is waiting for UK ministers to approve its official guidance on how public bodies, businesses and other service providers should respond