Rishi Sunak has pledged to defend women's rights amid regressive campaigning by trans activists.

Writing for The Express newspaper, which has launched a campaign on the issue, the Prime Minister said:

"Like many parents across our country, my thoughts on waking up every morning, and going to bed every night, are on how I can keep my daughters safe and happy.

"I want them to grow up in a world where they are free to live their lives the way they wish, where their needs are met, their rights are respected, and where they can go about their daily lives safe and protected.

"As a father, women’s rights are personal to me. And as Prime Minister, it is my job to ensure that women are given every protection the state can put in place."

Mr Sunak added:

"Treating people with respect and ensuring people can live their lives the way they wish, is very much part of who we are as a country. But we must also recognise the challenges that this can pose.

"And when it comes to women’s spaces, women’s prisons, changing rooms, sports, and health, I believe that biological sex really matters. I know what a woman is – and I’ll protect women’s rights and women’s spaces."

The Express campaign on women's rights is supported by MPs on different sides of the political aisle.

Tory MP Miriam Cates and Labour's Rosie Duffield have joined it to urge better protections in law.

They have five demands they say are necessary to safeguard women in the clash with trans rights:

1. Single-sex spaces
2. Protections for children
3. Female-only sporting categories
4. Rhe preservation of language such as 'mother'
5. The right for women to raise concerns

A spokeswoman for CARE commented:

"The Prime Minister's intervention is welcome in a context where many women, including in the UK church, fear an attack on their rights through anti-woman ideology.

"It is also notable that cross-party collaboration exists on the important goal of shoring up sex-based rights and affirming women. This is a moral issue, not a political one.

"We urge parliamentarians in every party to ensure that women's safety, privacy, and dignity is upheld by law and policy in the UK and prevent women's rights being eroded."