Kemi Badenoch says Labour conversion therapy ban is ‘unworkable’ and could see parents arrested
Kemi Badenoch claims Labour’s draft conversion practices legislation as “unworkable” and “a waste of time” (Getty Images)
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has attacked Labour’s draft conversion practices legislation as “unworkable” and “a waste of time”, warning it could mean “parents start getting arrested for parenting their children”.
Speaking on board HMS Wellington at a defence rally on Tuesday, Badenoch described Labour as “a student union Government” and said: “This Labour Government is a student union Government. All of the silly ideas which they’ve wasted time on is what they’re bringing in. They don’t know how to make anyone’s lives better. This is something that’s going to mean that parents start getting arrested for parenting their children.”
Badenoch also said: “I looked at this bill when we were in government. It is unworkable.” She argued she had reviewed the proposals when she was equalities minister in the last Conservative government, and claimed it was unnecessary because laws are already in place to prevent abuse or discrimination against vulnerable people.
In March 2023, Badenoch avoided giving a date for when legislation banning conversion therapy would be introduced, while saying it needed to be “robust”.
She added: “The reason why it’s a waste of time is in yet another pretend bit of legislation that’s going to confuse and complicate and mean that we lose common sense, people are afraid to speak to their children and tell the truth, and that’s why we don’t support what Labour is doing.”
What does Labour’s draft Conversion Practices Bill cover?
The draft Conversion Practices Bill is described as aiming to shield gay and transgender people from efforts to alter their sexuality or gender identity.
Downing Street insisted the draft legislation “doesn’t touch regular parenting”, and would not “prevent open, exploratory or challenging conversations between young people, or with parents, teachers, clinicians, or pastoral leaders”.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman also said: “LGBT+ people should never, without exception, have to suffer coercion or abuse in an effort to change who they are.”
Why is the bill scrutiny committee facing criticism?
Conversion practices are widely understood as efforts to change or suppress someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and attempts to draft an effective ban have been politically contentious for years.
A joint committee has been set up to consider and report on the government’s draft bill, but its make-up has already drawn criticism.
Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield said Olivia Bailey would be judging her own work by serving on the committee after drafting the bill as a junior equalities minister. Duffield said: “The new Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee is the former minister who drafted the Bill, and by also serving as a member on it, she is essentially marking her own homework.”
A spokesman for the bill committee said members are appointed by both Houses and that it includes members with “a range of views” to scrutinise the draft bill “in a balanced way” and propose amendments where appropriate.
