Labour's promise to women over single sex spaces 'not worth the paper it is written on!'

Campaigners warned that Labour’s plans to ban conversion therapy will stop therapists helping children with “gender distress” to be comfortable in their own bodies.

A growing number of youngsters are identifying as “trans” and adopting the opposite identity to their biological sex.

Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto would outlaw any attempt to try to change someone's sexual orientation or gender.

But women’s rights champions warn that genuine therapists trying to help young people struggling with their gender would be caught up in the law.

Conservative Miriam Cates, candidate for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said Labour’s “ideologically” driven agenda would cause “untold harm” to women and children and erode free-speech.

She added: “For years, the government equalities office has been trying to arrive at a legal definition of a conversion therapy ban that does not infringe on the rights of women, harm children, or threaten free-speech.

“They have failed to do so because it is not possible. Conversion therapy Bills introduced in both houses of Parliament have been roundly defeated this year by MPs and peers because of the widespread understanding of the dangers of such a Bill and the inability of activists to define such terms as ‘conversion therapy’ or ‘transgender’ in law.”

A major review into gender services for under-18s by Dr Hilary Cass found young people with "gender distress" also often had struggles with mental health, had suffered from trauma or had autism.

She insisted “everyone” should be protected from conversion but warned that a ban could end up “frightening therapists who are just doing their job and having an appropriate exploratory conversation with a young person”.

Labour’s manifesto also includes a pledge to “simplify” the process of legally changing gender and ending the need for two doctors and a panel of experts to be involved.

Maya Forstater, chief executive office of human-rights charity Sex Matters, said: “Labour’s election pledges relating to sex and gender are deeply worrying for anyone campaigning for sex-based rights.

“Far from ending the ‘chaos of division’, as promised in the manifesto, Labour’s plan to relax the rules for changing the sex recorded on birth certificates would be both hugely unpopular and harmful for women’s sex-based protections.

“The Labour leadership has repeatedly said the party no longer supports gender self-ID. But its pledge to ‘simplify and reform’ gender recognition law amounts to self-ID through the back door.

“Labour’s manifesto includes a misguided ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ – in reality ethical, compassionate talking therapy.

“A ban would run directly counter to the party’s commitment to implement the expert recommendations of the Cass Review, which called for an open-ended, evidence-based approach to supporting gender-distressed children that would likely be outlawed by any conversion therapy ban.

“Labour’s strong pledges on violence against women and girls are undermined by the party’s failure to recognise the need for greater clarity on how sex is defined in the Equality Act. The pledge to ‘continue to support the implementation of its single-sex exceptions’ is not worth the paper it is written on if the party in practice supports allowing men to identify into women’s sports, spaces, and services.”