Early evening summary
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Badenoch accused of breaking cross-party support for Cass report after she says 'no child born in wrong body'
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has accused Kemi Badenoch of abandoning a cross-party consensus on the health needs of trans children. He spoke out after the Tory leader declared that “no child is born in the wrong body” and condemned plans for a pilot of puberty blockers for young people to go ahead.
Referring to the pilot, Badenoch posted a message on social media saying:
No child is born in the wrong body.
I cannot believe we are back to square one, with NHS England backing an experimental trial of puberty blockers on healthy, vulnerable children, ignoring the damage already done.
The No1 rule of medicine is “do no harm”.
This is activist ideology masquerading as research. I’m urging MPs of all parties to sign this letter from me and Shadow Health Secretary @stuartandrew, calling for Wes Streeting to step in and stop this trial before more damage is done to children who are too young to understand what they are doing to themselves.
In April last year a landmark report by Hilary Cass, a leading paediatrician, said that children who wanted to change gender were being let down because they were being exposed to interventions for which the medical evidence was weak. It called for restrictions in the use of puberty blockers, and it said cross-sex hormones should only be used with “extreme caution” with under-18s.
The report was welcomed in the Commons by Streeting, the then shadow health secretary, and by the Conservative party. MPs, like Badenoch, who were alarmed about the increasing number of children getting medical help to transition, were particularly supportive, and in October last year Badenoch praised Cass for producing “a seminal report that has provided clarity and saved many children from making irreversible decisions that would harm their long-term health”.
Although Cass expressed caution about children getting medical help to transition, her report included evidence from children who found puberty blockers helpful and she recommended a trial of puberty blockers to establish evidence as to what the long-term effects are.
Cass also accepted that gender incongruence is a condition and she said:
There is broad agreement that gender incongruence, like many other human characteristics, arises from a combination of biological, psychological, social and cultural factors.
Responding to the Badenoch letter, Streeting said:
I’ll reply formally and fully, but I’m surprised by this letter.
The Conservatives commissioned the Cass Review and accepted its recommendations in full.
I did, too, and am implementing it.
I’m keen to maintain a cross-party approach on such a sensitive issue
Tory aides claim Badenoch never agreed with all the recommendations in the Cass report.
Updated
