Labour has delayed the publication of official guidance that would require businesses and public bodies to offer single-sex spaces to women.
Women and Equalities Secretary Bridget Phillipson described the proposed rules as "trans-exclusive" and has failed to sign them off more than three months after receiving them.
The guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was drawn up following a Supreme Court ruling that only biological women are women under equality law.
The full guidance from the EHRC has not yet been released, with sources telling The Telegraph Ms Phillipson had insisted on additional bureaucratic processes that have held the approval up.
In a submission given to the High Court, she said there were "many entirely plausible exceptions" to the single-sex rule.
According to Ms Phillipson, the guidance failed to take into account "common sense" exceptions.
This includes instances such as pregnant women using men’s loos to avoid queues at theatres and women being unable to take their "infant sons" into changing rooms at swimming pools.
She has been accused of "using every excuse in the book" to stand in the way of the Supreme Court ruling, in the hope that she will find a reason to force the EHRC to rewrite its guidelines.
Shadow Minister for Equalities Claire Coutinho said: "Government lawyers, working under Bridget Philipson’s instruction. are trying to rewrite the Supreme Court judgment that sex means biological sex.
"It is clear that they have no intention of complying with the law or implementing the ruling to make sure women’s rights to single-sex spaces are protected. The minister’s arguments would be laughable if they weren’t so dangerous.
"Calling for sex-based rights on a case-by-case basis to try and appease radical gender activists in her own party is a betrayal of women and girls everywhere. Whether it’s this court case or failing to publish the EHRC’s draft code of practice, the Government is doing everything it can to deny women the right to single-sex spaces."
A Government spokesman said: "The EHRC has submitted a draft Code of Practice to ministers, and we are working at pace to review it with the care it deserves.
"This is a 300-page long and legally complex document and it is important for service providers that we get this right.
"It would be catastrophic for single sex-services to follow guidance that wasn’t legally sound and then place them in legal jeopardy again. That is why it is vital we get this right."
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Labour MPs 'feeling like idiots' over new council funding plans
Northern Labour MPs have been left "feeling like idiots" amid new funding plans for local councils.
A new "funding formula" for local government is set to come in, with some backbenchers concerned it will will hurt deprived northern areas and benefit the capital.
Under the new plans, income deprivation after housing costs will be taken into account for funding, rather than before, meaning areas with higher housing costs, like London and the south east, will do much better.
Also, the new formula removes remoteness as a factor in the cost of delivering services (with an exception for adult social care). Therefore, more sparsely populated communities will do worse, compared to cities.
The top five winners from the finance settlement, released on Wednesday, are Luton, Enfield, Harlow, Hounslow and Hillingdon, reports The New Statesman.
The major losers are Trafford, Wigan, Sunderland, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Knowsley, Stockport, St Helens, Wirral, Sefton and North Tyneside.
One backbench Labour MP said: "I’m absolutely furious. I am so angry.
"The north-south divide is getting bigger under a Labour government. And what it looks like for the north west and the Midlands is that austerity is going to continue while you’ve got Heathrow expansion, train lines for Oxford and Cambridge and the rest.
"It’s like two different countries. We promised change in the election and we have been made to feel like idiots. We’re supposed to be sorting out inequality not adding to it."
WATCH: James Cleverly launches scathing attack on 'arrogant' Labour over delay to elections
Labour 'pretty confident' visa details not leaked to Beijing
The Government has said it is "pretty confident" that no individuals have had their details "compromised" in a data breach at the Foreign Office.
Business minister Sir Chris Bryant told Times Radio that reports in The Sun, published on Thursday night, were not completely accurate.
Reports claimed a Beijing-linked cyber gang had targeted Government servers in October and accessed information relating to visa details.
Sir Chris said: "I’m actually going to take some of the details that you’ve just put out there off the table, because I’m not sure that they’re necessarily accurate.
"You just referred to potentially affecting thousands of visas. We are very confident that in the investigation that we’ve done so far, that nobody, no individual will have been harmed or compromised by what has happened.
"There certainly has been a hack, I can say that, I’m not able to say whether it is directly related to Chinese operatives or indeed the Chinese state."
Government borrowing higher than expected after winter fuel payments U-turn
Rachel Reeves claimed the reforms were designed to bring an end to a structure that 'slows growth' | GETTYBorrowing fell last month to its lowest November level for four years but was still higher than expected as figures for the year so far were pushed higher due to the Government’s U-turn on winter fuel payments.
Official figures showed borrowing stood at £11.7billion last month, £1.9billion less than in November last year and the lowest for that month since 2021 thanks to a sharp fall in debt interest payments.
But the figure was more than the £10.3billion expected by most economists and the £8.6billion forecast in March by the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Borrowing for the eight months of the financial year so far was £132.3billion, £10billion higher than the same period a year ago and £16.8billion higher than the OBR forecast in March.
RECAP: Christian Turner announced as Britain’s new US Ambassador
Britain’s new ambassador to the US is veteran diplomat Christian Turner, the Government has announced.
The veteran diplomat, currently the UK’s permanent representative to the United Nations, will take on the role following the sacking of Peter Mandelson in September.
Lord Mandelson was removed from his post after the extent of his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein were revealed.
No10 will now request Washington’s formal consent.
Reform 'will implode on first contact with reality' rather than form a successful Government, says Sir Geoffrey Cox
Reform UK "will implode on the first contact with reality, like a bubble blown from a child's wand" rather than form a Government able to run the country successfully, a former Conservative Cabinet minister has said.
Sir Geoffrey Cox, Attorney General between 2018 and 2020, said that Reform did not have the "regimental tradition to be able to face the enemy".
Critics say that Reform could not match the Tories for the necessary organisation and experienced leaders to set up and run a Government if, as polls suggest, it wins the next general election, expected in 2029.
You can watch the former senior Tory on Chopper's Political Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, GBNews, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Kemi Badenoch calls for immigration crackdown 'from cultures that don’t respect women'
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the plans | PAKemi Badenoch has launched a scathing attack on Labour, calling for a crackdown on immigration from cultures and countries "that don't respect women."
The Conservative leader attacked the Government’s strategy for halving violence against women and girls, saying it was too focused on young boys and too influenced by the hit Netflix series Adolescence.
Writing in The Telegraph, she said: "Lecturing schoolboys about respect, as Labour intend to do, is really an attempt to change the subject.
"The current Government don’t have the backbone to do what’s right.Conservatives take violence against women and girls seriously, because we focus on punishing the perpetrators, not performative gestures aimed at the innocent."
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