Labour ministers are secretly plotting to defy the Supreme Court ruling that biological males who identify as women are not legally female, according to leaked WhatsApp messages.
The messages, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, reveal private fury on Sir Keir Starmer's frontbench despite the Government publicly welcoming the landmark judgment.
Ministers are planning to hold a meeting this week to "decide a way forwards" and "organise" against the ruling.
The exchanges show Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant and Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle expressing opposition to the court's decision that a woman is defined by biological sex.
Labour ministers are secretly plotting to defy the Supreme Court ruling that biological males who identify as women are not legally female, according to leaked WhatsApp messages
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Another MP, Chris Murray, responded: "Definitely agree, a meeting early next week would be good."
Dame Angela also wrote that transgender people "won't be feeling that way now and we need to remember that and organise."
The messages reveal a coordinated effort among Labour ministers to challenge the Supreme Court ruling and the EHRC's interpretation of it, despite their public statements appearing to accept the judgment.
Baroness Falkner, who chairs the EHRC, had earlier welcomed the ruling for bringing "clarity" to the issue.
Speaking to the BBC, she stated: "Single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex."
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She added: "If a male person is allowed to use a women-only service or facility, it isn't any longer single-sex."
Lady Falkner also confirmed the "enormously consequential" court decision meant transgender women could not participate in female sports.
She indicated the EHRC is working on an updated code of conduct for public services and said the NHS would be pursued if it did not follow new guidelines on single-sex spaces.
The controversy has prompted Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to write to the Cabinet Secretary calling for an investigation into Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson's public statements.
The controversy has prompted Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to write to the Cabinet Secretary calling for an investigation into Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson's public statements
PAPhillipson reacted to the judgment by saying: "We have always supported the protection of single sex spaces based on biological sex."
However, Badenoch argues this could constitute a "false public statement" because last June, Phillipson declared that transgender women with penises should be able to use single-sex spaces.
In her letter to Sir Chris Wormald, Head of the Civil Service, Badenoch wrote: "If ministers or advisers are found to have instructed civil servants to issue misleading material, then there is a clear route to resolve through resignation."
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Mims Davies, criticised the apparent contradiction between Labour's public and private positions.
"In public Keir Starmer and his Cabinet pretended they supported the Supreme Court judgment. But in private we know Labour are seething, as these texts prove," she said.
Davies also defended Baroness Falkner, stating: "Like so many brave women, Baroness Faulkner has suffered terrible abuse for standing up for the rights of women and girls. Now we know Labour will do all they can to undermine her work."
She called on the Prime Minister to commit to supporting the EHRC guidance when published.
"Anything less will be Labour betraying the rights of women once again," she added.
