Spain’s ruling Socialist party intends to ban transgender women from competing in female sports and to remove the Q+ from the LGBTQ+ acronym.

The Socialists, led by Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, included plans to limit participation in female sports to “people with a female biological sex” in a policy document decided on at the party’s congress over the weekend.

The decision also to remove Q+ from a plan to protect sexual and gender minorities from the impact of social inequality sparked fury from LGBTQ+ activists and politicians from Left-wing partners of Mr Sánchez’s minority government. However, it drew support from some feminist campaign groups.

The amendments to the draft policy framework were introduced by a feminist faction within the Socialist party that has fought against an ultra-liberal approach to transgender rights under Mr Sánchez’s administration.

The passing of a transgender rights reform in 2023, allowing anyone to change their official sex simply by stating their wish to switch, caused a bitter rift within Spain’s ruling Left-wing forces.