Editorial: The trans ruling from the UK's top court must apply in Northern Ireland, whatever the Equality Commission says

​The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland’s response to the Supreme Court ruling on trans is appalling.​

It gives succour to those who support a full barrier between NI and the rest of the UK that has scope far beyond trade (when it was already clear that such a border was not removed last year).

It potentially sends the matter to the Belfast courts, who have already adopted a maximalist interpretation of the internal UK frontier. That could mean multiple cases before the topic returns to the top court in London.

It also helps activists who adopt an extreme woke approach to trans matters in their attempts to press ahead as if the ground-breaking ruling from the UK’s highest court had never happened.

There were already concerns about the influence of unelected quangos in this province prior to yesterday’s document. One of our sharpest politicians, Jim Allister MP, who is also a KC, has said: “It seeks to redefine key concepts like ‘sex’ and ‘gender reassignment’ in ways that go far beyond what our domestic law currently recognises — and flies in the face of the clarity brought by the Supreme Court.”

One appropriate response to this ought to be the government at Westminster launching a detailed analysis of the impact of the Equality Commission when it comes to policy here. But it is unlikely the Labour administration would countenance that step.

Northern Ireland has politically been one of the most conservative parts of the UK when it comes to social, moral and ethical questions. People here are fair, open minded and tolerant, and most would be compassionate towards the complicated matter of a tiny minority of people being confused by their own gender identity. But the Supreme Court ruling was issued in response to radical trans policies that wreaked havoc in areas from women’s sport to prison placements. It must apply in this part of the UK.