Government insists it ‘remains committed to modernising the gender recognition process’

The government is committed to updating the Gender Recognition Act, a minister has said, after reports claimed the pledge had been dropped.

In its manifesto, published ahead of last summer’s landslide victory at the general election, Labour promised to “modernise, simplify and reform” the Gender Recognition Act, thereby removing “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”.

It was reported on Monday (10 February) that the pledge had been dropped, with The Times citing unnamed government sources who said they expected the plans to “go away”, and labelling gender issues a “can of worms”.

However, Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum, has insisted that there had been no change to Labour’s plans.

“Our manifesto commitments with respect to gender recognition are part of our programme and they will be going ahead,” she told Times Radio. “My understanding is that The Times has got that wrong.”

She also confirmed to LBC that the government was sticking to its plans.

“That newspaper report is wrong. We will put our manifesto commitments into effect. It is not self-ID, it’s a simplification of the existing system and there is still a medical element to it. The Times doesn’t always know what it is talking about,” she said.

And a government spokesperson told PinkNews: “We remain committed to modernising the gender recognition process while upholding the Equality Act and its provisions on single-sex exceptions. The government is committed to ensuring respect and dignity for trans people.”

Eagle, who has been MP for Wallasey, on Merseyside, since 1992, and who has been out as a lesbian since 1997, has long been a supporter of the transgender community.

In 2023, while at the annual Trades Union Congress, she criticised anti-trans activists for wanting to police who uses what toilet, saying: “While that may affect a small number of people, the actual effect is that loads of gender-non-conforming women will effectively be being policed in their use of public facilities.

“We’ve never had to show a passport to get into the toilet before. I dread to think what else they might want us to show if they change the law.”

Eagle also spoke out against the previous Conservative government’s use of Section 35 of the 1998 Scotland Act to block plans by the devolved nation’s government to make it easier for people to change gender. “The decision today to veto new arrangements for gender recognition in Scotland is appalling and just the latest of their decision [to] problematise trans people,” she wrote in a series of online posts.

“I was unable to attend the debate today due to prior diary commitments but am unwavering in my support for the trans community, and the need to reform the [Gender Recognition Act] to enable trans people to live their lives free of prejudice and discrimination. 

“As a proud woman, lesbian and feminist, I continue to stand with my trans siblings and see no competition between their fight for rights and respect and my own.”

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