Liz Truss is to lay down a new challenge to Rishi Sunak this week in a move which is set to unite the right of the Conservative Party.
The former Prime Minister is to table a private members Bill this week which would protect women’s only spaces by law and prevent people born as biological males from entering them.
The move comes as a reaction against the increasingly heated debate of trans ideology with concerns that in extreme cases male rapists are reidentifying as women to go into female-only prisons.
But while Ms Truss, who used to be the minister for equalities and women, is responding to concerns about women being safe in female toilets and other safe spaces, Tory sources have also said she is becoming involved in talks to unite the right against Rishi Sunak.
The Bill will split the Conservatives with many on the liberal left of the Tories opposing measures to restrict the activities of people in the trans community.
The move is backed by Suella Braverman, who Mr Sunak recently sacked as Home Secretary in what was seen as “a declaration of war” on the right of the party.
It also has strong backing from the influential New Conservatives founded by Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, who are seen as key allies of Ms Braverman.
Ms Cates, in particular, has won acclaim on the right for her stance on pushing back against the extreme trans lobby and stood up to an attempt by Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle to intimidate her in the Commons when she stood up for women’s safe spaces.
A source told Express.co.uk that Ms Braverman and Ms Truss have “patched up their differences and made up” in recent weeks having fallen out when Ms Truss sacked Ms Braverman when she was still Prime Minister.
Another Tory MP said: “Liz feels strongly about this issue but there is no doubt this is a call for the right to unite as well.”
MPs like Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt and Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns are likely to oppose the bill.
But signalling the support of rightwing groups like the New Conservatives and Common Sense Group, Stoke North MP Jonathan Gullis said on social media site X: “This Bill from Liz Truss has my full support!”
Ms Truss’s Bill would also ban children from having treatment like puberty blockers to protect them from making decisions “they later regretted” or having parents make decisions which could harm their children.
She said: “This week I will present a Private Members’ Bill to Parliament. The Bill would protect single-sex spaces in law. It would also protect children and teenagers from making irreversible decisions about their bodies.”
