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Kemi Badenoch calls for public inquiry following Cass review as she says some are 'exploiting' trans label
16 April 2024, 21:13 | Updated: 17 April 2024, 02:26
Kemi Badenoch calls for an inquiry into public institutional policy
Kemi Badenoch has called for a public inquiry following the Cass review as she said some people are 'exploiting' the transgender label.
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The Minister for Women and Equalities said it was "extraordinary" that some clinics had refused to cooperate and hand over data for the Cass review.
She said that beforehand many things were "taken as a given" with policies being made without evidence.
The final report said children had been let down by the lack of research, especially due to the "exceptional" toxicity of the debate.
Speaking to LBC's Iain Dale, Ms Badenoch said: "I personally think we need some kind of inquiry into how public inquisition are creating policy and getting their evidence..."
"It is extraordinary that there would be such a serious review and some clinics would not cooperate.
"That shows that people are taking, whether it is the law or policy, into their own hands.
"This is taxpayer funded medical services, it should be the government and leadership within the NHS, underpinned by government policy, that decides what treatment people get."
Kemi Badenoch on people 'pretending to be trans'
It came after Ms Badenoch said she believed some people were "exploiting" the transgender label.
"We want trans people to be able to live their lives freely and it is where we believe there are concerns around self-identification where anyone can pretend to be trans," she said.
"There are many people who are exploiting the label trans to do things that have got nothing to do with those people who have a protected characteristic of gender reassignment or gender dysphoria.
"And that's one of the things that we have been looking at - how can we provide protections for both trans people but also many of those people who are impacted by those who choose to exploit the policy, in particular women, when it comes to single sex spaces and so on."
When asked about the conversion therapy bill, Ms Badenoch denied blocking it, saying people just had "different visions" for it.
"The Cass review is going to have implications for what we do around conversion practices," she said.
"It again highlights one of the challenges we have had because the straight forward bit is on the L,G and B side of it and the difficult bit is around the T - where we define fluidity and where conversion start and stops.
"It is how to make sure that we have a bill that gives space for clinicians to do the right thing.
"We are still working on the draft bill - I am actively working on it."
