Streeting says he ‘knows what it’s like to feel you have to bury a secret’ as he explains puberty blockers ban – UK politics live

In her Commons statement on immigration, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said the government would be monitoring the situation in Syria before deciding whether or not to lift the pause on asylum applications from Syrians.

She told MPs:

Let’s be clear, most of the claims, many of the claims that have been made, have been made against the Assad regime for asylum, which is clearly not in place.

It would therefore not be appropriate to be granting asylum decisions on those cases in the current circumstances.

We do need to monitor the evolving situation so that we can get new country guidance in place and so that we can take those decisions, but we will do that in a sensible and serious way, which is about getting the asylum and the immigration systems back in control.

And in a later answer she said:

There’s a lot we simply do not know about how events are going to play out in Syria.

Those who have taken over and who are involved in the initial overthrow of the Assad regime have said, initially, that they would pursue an approach which supported minorities, for example, within Syria, but of course we have seen further developments in recent days that raise questions about that and we’ve also just seen the huge instability with different organisations and groups operating across the country.

That is why we need to monitor this closely, I think everybody wants to see greater stability. We’ve also seen the initial signs of people wanting to return from Turkey to Syria, for example, in the first few days. But this is very unstable at the moment and that is why we need to approach this with care and monitoring the detail of what is happening.

Back in the Commons, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said there are more than 6,200 children and young people on waiting lists in England for gender services. He told MPs:

To give people a sense of the challenge, at the latest figures show 6,237 children and young people on waiting lists for gender services. As in common with all NHS waiting lists, I want to see those fall.

And in reference to a plan for up to eight new regional centres for children and young people, Streeting said: “We want all of these regional centres to be up and running by 2026 and we’re working with NHS England to achieve that outcome.”

Streeting was responding to a question from Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson. Morgan said:

For too long, children and young people who are struggling with their gender identity have been badly let down by a low standard of care, exceptionally long waiting lists and an increasingly toxic public debate.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, ended his statement in the Commons saying the ban on puberty blockers was being made permanent with a message aimed directly at young trans people. He said that, while he could not pretend to know what their experience was like, as a gay man he did know what it was like to live with a secret, and to face bullying. He said he really cared about this issue, and was determined to improve healthcare for young people.

In the past few months, I have met with young trans people who have either have been, may be or will be affected by the decisions I and my predecessor have taken. I have listened to their concerns, their fears and their anxieties, and I want to talk to them directly now.

I know it’s not easy being a trans kid in our country today, the trans community is at the wrong end of all of the statistics for mental ill health, self-harm and suicide.

I can’t pretend to know what that’s like, but I do know what it’s like to feel you have to bury a secret about yourself, to be afraid of who you are, to be bullied for it, and then to experience the liberating experience of coming out.

I know it won’t feel like it based on the decisions I’m taking today, but I really do care about this and so does this government. I am determined to improve the quality of care and access to healthcare for all trans people.

I am convinced that the full implementation of the Cass review will deliver material improvements in the wellbeing, safety and dignity of trans people of all ages and this government will work with them to help them live freely, equally, and with the dignity everyone in our country deserves.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has just told MPs that existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of puberty blockers will be made indefinite.

In a news release, Streeting said:

Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people.

Dr Cass’ review also raised safety concerns around the lack of evidence for these medical treatments . We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice.

We are working with NHS England to open new gender identity services, so people can access holistic health and wellbeing support they need. We are setting up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year, to establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine.

Streeting told MPs that the government was acting after the Commission on Human Medicines published independent expert advice saying there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.

Dr Hilary Cass, who wrote the Cass Review into children’s gender care and published her final report in April, described puberty blockers as “powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks”. She said in her report they should only be prescribed following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol.

Responding to Streeting’s announcement, she said:

I support the government’s decision to continue restrictions on the dispensing of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria outside the NHS where these essential safeguards are not being provided.

UPDATE: Starmer told MPs:

I asked the Commission on Human Medicines to look at the current environment for prescribing puberty blockers, and we launched a targeted consultation.

The Commission is an independent body made up of leading clinicians and epidemiologists which advises on medicine safety. They took evidence directly from clinical experts, consultant paediatric endocrinologists and patient representatives, including representatives of trans people, young people and their families.

After thoroughly examining all the available evidence, they have concluded that prescribing puberty blockers to children for the purposes of gender dysphoria in the current prescribing environment represents, and I quote, ‘an unacceptable safety risk’. Of particular concern to the Commission was whether these children and their families were provided with enough time and information to give their full and informed consent.

On the basis of their findings, I am acting on the Commission’s advice to put an indefinite order in place to restrict the sale or supply of puberty blockers through a prescription issued by either a private UK prescriber or a prescriber registered outside the UK for under-18s.

Kemi Badenoch called her campaign Renewal 2030 when she was standing for the Tory leadership. She said she was doing that deliberately, because the next election would probably be near the end of the decade. She also said there was no point setting out firm policy, because the Tories are not fighting an election now. These were all sound judgments for an opposition leader in her position.

And yet, at today’s PMQs, Badenoch was not looking ahead to 2030. She was not even setting out a pitch for an election now. Instead, much of what she said just sounded like a rerun of the last election campaign. The claims about Starmer as a lawyer giving legal advice to Hizb ut-Tahrir, joining other MPs protesting against the deportation of foreign offenders on human rights grounds, voting against measures to curb immigration, and even his historic comment about the racist undercurrent in post-war immigration legislation (which was true, by the way – see here) – all of this was in a massive file of “dirt’” on the Labour leader deployed by the Tories, and the rightwing papers, endlessly in the weeks and months before a general election. And none of it made much difference. Voters clearly took the view not being able to get a GP appointment, or having to wait 12 hours to be seen at A&E, mattered far, far more.

Today it felt as if Badenoch had just wandered over to the opposition research desk at CCHQ, dug out the old election folder on Starmer from the filing cabinet and decided to try using the material all over again. Not surprisingly, it did not work any better than it did for Rishi Sunak. What she did achieve, though, was to make Starmer sound genuinely angry and indignant, which worked for him quite well.

At one point Badenoch said that her party had “acknowledged where things went wrong”, as if that somehow insulated her from the Starmer argument that nothing the Tories say on policy has any real merit because of the abysmal inheritance they left. It is true that, with an apology, a party can wipe the slate seen. But it has to be colossal apology, one that people notice and remember. Can you remember when Badenoch apologised for the things that “went wrong” under the Tories? Do you think people who don’t read politics live blogs can remember one? Badenoch routine includes a line in speeches saying that of course “mistakes were made” under the last government, but she has not come close disowning those errors very obviously. The public have not noticed yet.

Badenoch also made the mistake of sounding extreme. Tony Blair, the best prime minister at PMQs in recent years, argued that it was important to be the person sounding the most reasonable in these exchanges. “They get angry; you get mild. They go over the top; you become a soothing voice of reason,” he wrote in his memoirs about PMQs. Starmer did not quite manage to be “soothing” when Badenoch launched her final attack on him. (See 12.17am.) But reasonable, sensible, mainstream people don’t think Starmer consistently backs criminals over law-abiding people. They might be open to the argument that Labour is soft, or naive, in some of its criminal justice views. But this hyperbole seems to be taking Badenoch down an electoral cul-de-sac.

So why is Badenoch doing it? The obvious answer is, because it is what she thinks. She is very rightwing. But maybe she is getting a bit spooked by Reform UK too. A recent ConservativeHome survey suggests 70% of Conservative members think Nigel Farage’s party poses the biggest challenge to them at the general election. Today she sounded like she was auditioning for his job, not Starmer’s.