Victoria McCloud resigned as Master of the High Court in England and Wales in 2024 after saying political changes had made it impossible for her as a transgender woman to continue as a full-time judge.

She had sought and been denied permission to intervene in the Supreme Court case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, the outcome of which has significant implications for trans rights.

Great Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published an “interim update” following the ruling which says trans people should no longer be allowed by workplaces or service providers to use toilets or changing rooms in line with their gender identity.

It also says that trans people can also, in certain circumstances, be excluded from services which match their biological sex, but “should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use”.

Ms McCloud told The Guardian that her application to the European Court of Human Rights will allege that her rights under Article 6 (right to a fair trial) were violated by the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear evidence from trans individuals or organisations.

“The basis is that the Supreme Court refused to hear me, or my evidence, to provide them with information about the impact on those trans people affected by the judgment and failed to give any reasons,” she said.

“Those are two basic premises of normal justice. There were protest groups speaking on behalf of women in this court case, but ordinary women were not actually represented as a whole.

“The disabled were not represented, and now we’re seeing the Conservatives saying that trans people have got to use the disabled loos, which impacts the lives of disabled people.

“The impacts of all of this have not been dealt with.”

She said the ruling had caused “chaos because we’ve got the Supreme Court saying one thing, and we’ve got the government and the EHRC saying another”.

The Good Law Project, headed by English barrister Jo Maugham KC, has separately said it will ask the High Court to declare that the UK is in breach of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights following the ruling.

The legal campaign group has so far raised raised over £260,000 to finance its proceedings.