Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer does not believe transgender women are women, his official spokesman has said.
It comes after the UK Supreme Court ruled last week that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.
In March 2022, when he was leader of the opposition, Sir Keir told the Times that "a woman is a female adult, and in addition to that transwomen are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law".
Asked if Sir Keir still believed that a transgender woman was a woman, the PM's official spokesman said: "No, the Supreme Court judgment has made clear that when looking at the Equality Act, a woman is a biological woman."
The spokesman added: "That is set out clearly by the court judgment."
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the government of having U-turned in reaction to the judgement, accusing Labour ministers of needing the Supreme Court to tell them what to think on the issue.
Pressed over when the PM had changed his mind earlier, his spokesman insisted the Labour government had been consistent that single-sex spaces "are protected in law".
The ruling also makes it clear that a person who was born male but identifies as a woman does not have the right to use spaces or services designated as for women only.
