Labour’s gender change plans will create ‘loopholes for predators’

Labour’s plan to make it easier for people to change gender will create ‘loopholes for predators’, Kemi Badenoch has warned.

The women and equalities minister claimed the Opposition’s proposals to simplify the process of legally changing sex would ‘unravel’ protections for women and girls.

Campaigners said it amounted to self-ID in all but name – the controversial policy of allowing anyone to identify as the opposite sex without any checks or restrictions.

Last night there were also fears that Labour’s plans raised the prospect of children as young as 16 being allowed to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).

The backlash came after fresh details emerged of how a future Labour government would ‘simplify’ the scheme.

Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has warned Labour’s plan to make it easier for people to change gender will create ‘loopholes for predators’

Under proposals put forward by Labour, gender change applications will only need to be approved by one medical specialist rather than a panel of doctors and lawyers

Under the new system, applicants would no longer have to submit two years’ worth of evidence such as utility bills or passports to prove they have been living in their acquired gender.

And rather than having their applications approved by a panel of doctors and lawyers, trans people would only need to obtain a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from one medical specialist.

Labour health spokesman Wes Streeting told Sky News yesterday: ‘At the moment, trans people have to go through a process that I think they feel is quite degrading and torturous in terms of the requirements that are placed on them to demonstrate their living their lives in their assumed gender.

‘And what we want to do is to simplify the process… a doctor would still be involved, but trying to take out some of that unnecessary and degrading part of the process.’

But Mrs 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. 

‘Labour has never understood or cared about this issue or the vulnerable women impacted by their policies.’

Rishi Sunak echoed her words in Edinburgh: ‘What I’ve seen from Labour is they’re going to undo all the progress we’ve made on this issue.’ 

Some sources suggested that Labour would let 16-year-olds apply for a GRC, allowing them to receive one at 18. The party did not respond to requests for comment. 

Currently anyone wanting to apply must be 18.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the current process is ‘quite degrading and torturous in terms of the requirements’ placed on transgender people

There were also concerns the reform would affect the Equality Act, which contains exemptions that allow for single-sex services and sports.

Meanwhile Mr Streeting has admitted feeling ‘pretty depressed’ by JK Rowling’s claim that his party has abandoned women.

The author had said she would ‘struggle to support’ Labour – despite having given £1million to the party under Gordon Brown – as long as it remains ‘dismissive and often offensive to women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time’.