This week, Europe’s most senior human rights official has warned that the UK’s treatment of trans people could lead to a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote to the Chairs of Parliament’s Committees for Women and Equalities and Human Rights in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement earlier this year which ruled on the legal definition of a woman.

As the country awaits any guidance that will follow the ruling, there are fears it could include changes to public facilities, like toilets and changing rooms, that might see people excluded based on their gender identity.

Mr O’Flaherty warned against tendencies to view the human rights of different groups as a ‘zero-sum game’, noting that this approach would build on prejudice against trans people. He also said that there was a need to ensure that trans people were not made to feel like they were living ‘in an immediate zone not quite one gender or the other’.

He wrote: “I observe a tendency to see the human rights of different groups as a zero-sum game. This has contributed to narratives which build on prejudice against trans people and portray upholding their human rights as a de facto threat to the rights of others.

“Such a zero-sum approach risks certain inferences being drawn from the UK Supreme Court judgment that could lead to widespread exclusion of trans people from many public spaces."