Kemi Badenoch has claimed that Labour’s plans to simplify the process for people to transition would create “loopholes for predators”.
The Labour Party wants to ditch the current two-year waiting period for people to acquire a gender recognition certificate (GRC) — instead implementing a similar length “cooling-off period” after applying for a GRC.
Under Labour’s plans, a diagnosis of gender dysphoria will still be required, but this will be done via one specialist doctor, rather than under the present system that requires a panel of clinicians and lawyers.
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest election news and analysis.***
The current rules require someone to provide two years’ worth of evidence an individual has been living as a different gender before getting a GRC.
Responding to Labour’s proposals, equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said: “These proposals unravel all the protections in the current system designed to protect women and girls.
“This change creates more loopholes for predators and bad-faith actors to infiltrate women-only spaces and put us at risk. Labour has never understood or cared about this issue or the vulnerable women impacted by their policies.
“As JK Rowling, a Labour supporter herself, has said, Labour shows a ‘dismissive and often offensive’ approach to the concerns of women, illustrated by the contempt with which they treat their own MPs like Rosie Duffield.
“Labour’s promise of change is definitely change for the worse.”
Last week, Harry Potter author JK Rowling said she will “struggle to support” Labour if Keir Starmer keeps his current stance on gender recognition.
Rowling has been outspoken in her belief that biological women should be able to have separate spaces, and trans women — who were born male — should not be allowed access.
The Labour manifesto, published earlier this month, reads: “We will modernise, simplify, and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process.
“We will remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance; whilst retaining the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist doctor, enabling access to the healthcare pathway.”
A spokesman for the Labour Party said: “Labour will modernise, simplify and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process.
“We will remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance; while retaining the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist doctor, enabling access to the healthcare pathway.
“Britain is a reasonable and tolerant society where most people know that there are a small number of individuals who do not identify with the gender that they were born into.
“Labour’s plans will protect single-sex spaces, treat everybody with respect and dignity, maintain the existing two-year time frame for gender recognition, and ensure that robust provisions are in place to protect legitimate applications.”
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest election news and analysis.