Rishi Sunak was photobombed by Lib Dem campaigners on a boat as he tried to woo young voters in Boris Johnson’s former seat of Henley on Thames.
The prime minister headed out to Oxfordshire for day 12 of election campaign, with his party failing to make up ground in the polls.
The Conservatives announced an election campaign proposal to amend the Equality Act to make clear sex means “biological sex” rather than gender today.
But they have faced backlash ever since, with accusations that they are fuelling culture wars with ill-conceived policies.
Asked if his party is waging “phony culture wars”, the Prime Minister told broadcasters: “No. It builds on our track record of treating these issues sensitively and with compassion, as of course we should, but ensuring that our laws are right, our guidance is right to protect the safety and security of women and girls and the wellbeing of our children.
“And I think that’s paramount in all of our minds.”
Pressed on why the Tories have not acted in the 14 years they have been in power, Mr Sunak blamed the SNP’s gender recognition legislation.
“We were also of course dealing with the SNP’s aims to try and make gender recognition on a self-ID basis, which wasn’t right,” he said.
Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch stressed that the Conservatives are seeking to clarify the Equality Act, not change it.
The Cabinet minister told Sky News on Monday: “We have seen quite a lot of changes in terms of terminology in the law. Sex and gender we used interchangeably, now we don’t do that, so what we’re doing is making sure people understand what the law says. We have seen a lot of problems with people misinterpreting the law.”
The Tories want to change the Act to apply to biological sex, and say those who are biologically male but identify as female should be barred from using single-sex spaces.
Ms Badenoch could not answer questions on whether someone’s original birth certificate – or one amended after a legally-recognised gender change – would define biological sex in such cases.
Pressed repeatedly, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What you are describing is a hypothetical scenario, assuming that when people go into rape crisis centres they’re bringing in birth certificates, they’re bringing in gender recognition certificates.
“What is happening at the moment is that people come to the centres and they are visibly of a different sex. You don’t always need your birth certificate when you’re going to the toilet and so on and so forth.”
She continued: “This is not a paperwork issue. This is a practical issue.”
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