Rishi Sunak is expected to bring in a long-promised ban on conversion therapy after a backlash from Conservative MPs.
The PM is finally set to include a draft bill in the King’s Speech to prohibit attempts to change someone’s sexuality, amid growing anger over delays and uncertainty.
The bill will also protect transgender people from efforts to change anyone’s gender identity, according to The Times – a crucial inclusion that LGBT+ campaigners had been demanding.
Mr Sunak was thought to be considering ditching the bill over fears in some quarters that teachers, parents and therapists could be penalised for trying to offer guidance to young people.
One source close to government told the Telegraph only last month that the ban appeared to be “dead in the water”, while another said the government was “stuck in a loop” amid disagreements on the wording of the ban.
But No 10 is now set to introduce legislation for the ban – first promised under Thresa May in 2018 – in November’s King’s Speech, after Tory MPs made clear their frustration.
The chief whip Simon Hart warned the PM that the government could face a rebellion if it failed to introduce the bill, according to The Times. “Simon has been brilliant on this … He gets it,” said one MP.
The Tory government first pledged in 2018 that it would end “abhorrent conversion practices” – sometimes called “gay cures” – promoted by some religious groups.
Mr Sunak’s ministers has promised a draft bill to ban religious groups from trying to change someone’s sexuality would be set out by the end of the parliamentary session.
Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch has expressed concerns about ‘criminalising’ parents
However, amid reports they bill could be watered down, equalities minister Kemi Badenoch expressed concerns about the risks of “criminalising” parents earlier this year.
Then-culture secretary Michelle Donelan said in January that the bill “will protect everyone”, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality “or being transgender”.
Jayne Ozanne, the former government adviser who now leads the Ban Conversion Therapy coalition, said she was “extremely angry” that the Tories had “consistently delivered only obfuscation and delay” in recent years.
Ms Ozanne welcomed the intended ban – but told The Independent she was “extremely concerned that making victims prove coercion will mean this a bill in name only”. The campaigner said she was worried there wasn’t enough time to scrutinise the bill properly before the next election.
She added: “All conversion therapy is coercive, but proving it puts the onus on the victim and lets perpetrators walk free … I’m left feeling this is a cynical move to avoid haemorrhaging votes, rather than a genuine attempt to protect LGBT+ people’s lives.”
No 10 would not comment on the likelihood of the bill being in the King’s speech. But Mr Sunak’s official spokesman added: “You’ve heard us talk before about the abhorrent nature of so-called conversion therapy [and] that no one should be harmed or harassed for who they are.”
The government faced growing pressure from some backbench Tories after home secretary Suella Braverman sparked outrage with her speech claiming that some asylum seekers were pretending to be gay to win refugee status.
While few MPs spoke out in public, many are believed to have made their unease clear to the chief whip. Andrew Boff – a leading Tory London Assembly member who is patron of the LGBT+ Conservatives group – was kicked out of Ms Braverman’s conference speech “dog whistle” politics to appeal to the right.
