Labour reportedly drops major manifesto commitment for trans people

The government has reportedly axed plans to make it easier for trans people to legally change their gender, performing a U-turn on their manifesto promise.

The manifesto, published ahead of last summer’s landslide victory at the general election, vowed that party planned to “modernise, simplify and reform” the Gender Recognition Act.

Currently, to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), transgender people in the UK must be aged 18 or older and provide a medical report and evidence that they have lived in their gender for at least two years.

The medical evidence includes providing reports issued by two doctors, or from a doctor and a clinical psychologist, detailing a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and any gender-affirming care received, such as surgery or hormone therapy.

To show they have lived in their gender for two years, there is “no other specific requirements” but it should include documents that have gender markers and titles from “different points over the two years, with roughly one piece of evidence for every three months”.

The manifesto promised the new process would “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”.

That would already have been a significant step away from Labour’s earlier promise of bringing self-ID, with Anneliese Dodds writing in The Guardian in July 2023 that the party would keep “medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria” as an “important” part of obtaining a GRC.

However, according to The Telegraph on Sunday (9 February), sources close to the government have said plans to make the legal process easier have been axed. Labour insiders are said to have told the publication that they expected the plans to “go away”, and labelled gender issue a “can of worms”.

The Telegraph reported that sources at the Department for Education, which oversees the equality brief, did not deny the allegations.

In regards to the allegations, 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.”

If there was any change to the government’s pledges, it would not be the first time Labour has let down the trans community.

Soon after taking power, they renewed the Tory ban on the sale and supply of puberty blockers which came into force in the wake of the publication of the Cass Report in April.

Health secretary Wes Streeting had already expressed regret for saying “trans women are women“ and proceeded to defend the controversial emergency ban.

Prime minister Keir Starmer has had a mixed track record on trans rights. Last April, when asked if it was right or wrong for gender-critical MP Rosie Duffield to say “women have a cervix,” the Labour leader replied: “Biologically, she of course is right about that.”

In 2023, he was accused of “throwing trans people under the bus” following an interview where he controversially said: “For 99.9 per cent of women, it is completely biological… and, of course, they haven’t got a penis”.

He has also described a woman as an “adult female” – a dog-whistle phrase typically used by anti-trans groups.

In a pre-election pledge, Starmer promised a “reset moment” on “toxic” discourse but this was met with caution by members of the transgender community.