Olympian Sharron Davies calls for a trans ban in grassroots sports after Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer demands end to male-born athletes competing against women at an elite level

Olympic medallist Sharron Davies yesterday said a ban on transgender athletes competing against women should apply at all levels of sport.

The champion swimmer spoke out after Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer called on sporting chiefs to stop male-born competitors playing against females at an elite level.

But Ms Davies, 61, said the ban should go further, arguing that trans competitors represented a danger to women at the grassroots level.

Her views were echoed by Downing Street, which said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wanted to see trans athletes excluded from competitive women's sport.

It came after Ms Frazer demanded sports bodies, including the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board, stop trans athletes competing at the elite level.

Referencing Ms Frazer's impassioned piece in favour of protecting female athletes in yesterday's Daily Mail, Ms Davies posted on X: 'Stop sex discrimination in sport.

'The @DCMS & @lucyfrazermp have asked all sports like the @FA & @ECB_cricket to stop allowing dozens of men to take women's places in sport & increasing risk of injury to women & girls, but this must be for ALL women not just elite.

'Grassroots, pathways & even @parkrunUK course records matter to the 18 million females who do sport not just the 1000 elite who get paid. All women are worthy of fair sport.'

It comes after Ms Frazer summoned representatives of cricket and football to a meeting on Monday over the issue.

She urged them to follow the lead of other sports, including swimming, cycling, rowing and athletics, which have put in place rules to protect biological women.

She said the industry had a duty to give female athletes a 'sporting chance' as male-born competitors have an 'indisputable edge' over them.

Despite Government guidance urging them to consider fairness and safety, some authorities are 'not going far or fast enough' as she called for them to set out an 'unambiguous position', she added.

The ECB and FA's policies are under review but permit trans women to compete in female competitions subject to certain conditions.

Yesterday, the PM's official spokesman pointed out that some sports, like cycling and rowing, have barred trans athletes from women's categories.

The spokesman also said that it was not time for all governing bodies to take an 'unambiguous position'.

'We are clear that competitive support should consider fairness as well as safety for women when it comes to its approach to transgender inclusion,' the spokesman added.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has spoken out, criticising a 'culture of secrecy' in gender treatment, while women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch attacked the 'cowardice' of public bodies.

In 2021, the Sports Council Equality Group published its transgender inclusion guidance for governing bodies, saying that balancing trans inclusion, safety and fairness was not always possible.

A recent BBC survey found more than 100 elite sportswomen were uncomfortable with trans women competing in female categories in their sport.

Ms Davies' intervention came after a landmark report on NHS gender identity services for children and young people raised major concerns about the UK's approach to trans issues.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey opposed Ms Frazer's intervention, telling Times Radio that sports bodies should make their own decisions.

He said politicians should 'not add fuel to the fire' and 'pull back' to allow sports chiefs to make their own decisions.