Wes Streetings decision to ban puberty blockers should be called out for what it is.
He’s playing culture wars where trans & non binary youth are collateral damage & Labour dance to Reforms tune.
An attack on trans people is an attack on our LGBTQ+ community. We must say no.
And Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, has posted a message agreeing.
Absolutely, and for Streeting to impose this on the Scottish NHS adds insult to injury. If the Scottish Government are to have any credibility they must challenge this – both as bad policy and as over-reach by the UK Government.
the pause on asylum applications from Syrians.
She told MPs:
Let’s be clear, most of the claims, many of the claims that have been made, have been made against the Assad regime for asylum, which is clearly not in place.
It would therefore not be appropriate to be granting asylum decisions on those cases in the current circumstances.
We do need to monitor the evolving situation so that we can get new country guidance in place and so that we can take those decisions, but we will do that in a sensible and serious way, which is about getting the asylum and the immigration systems back in control.
And in a later answer she said:
There’s a lot we simply do not know about how events are going to play out in Syria.
Those who have taken over and who are involved in the initial overthrow of the Assad regime have said, initially, that they would pursue an approach which supported minorities, for example, within Syria, but of course we have seen further developments in recent days that raise questions about that and we’ve also just seen the huge instability with different organisations and groups operating across the country.
That is why we need to monitor this closely, I think everybody wants to see greater stability. We’ve also seen the initial signs of people wanting to return from Turkey to Syria, for example, in the first few days. But this is very unstable at the moment and that is why we need to approach this with care and monitoring the detail of what is happening.
in a story for Bloomberg. They say:
The discussions have focused on the idea that local Conservative associations could stand down candidates in some districts to give Reform — led by Brexit campaigner and Donald Trump supporter Nigel Farage — a better chance of defeating Labour, people familiar with the matter said. Reform would reciprocate in seats where the Tories stood a better chance, they said.
The talks have taken place in several areas across the country, the people said on condition of anonymity, to discuss a plan that is not endorsed by party managers. Both the Conservative party and Reform UK have officially said they are opposed to any formal electoral pact.
on Bluesky.
Kemi Badenoch’s spokesman condemns Keir Starmer for not introducing “a strict numerical cap” on immigration, only to then repeatedly refuse to say what she believes that strict numerical cap should actually be
news release, Streeting said:
Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people.
Dr Cass’ review also raised safety concerns around the lack of evidence for these medical treatments . We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice.
We are working with NHS England to open new gender identity services, so people can access holistic health and wellbeing support they need. We are setting up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year, to establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine.
Streeting told MPs that the government was acting after the Commission on Human Medicines published independent expert advice saying there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.
Dr Hilary Cass, who wrote the Cass Review into children’s gender care and published her final report in April, described puberty blockers as “powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks”. She said in her report they should only be prescribed following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol.
Responding to Streeting’s announcement, she said:
I support the government’s decision to continue restrictions on the dispensing of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria outside the NHS where these essential safeguards are not being provided.
UPDATE: Starmer told MPs:
I asked the Commission on Human Medicines to look at the current environment for prescribing puberty blockers, and we launched a targeted consultation.
The Commission is an independent body made up of leading clinicians and epidemiologists which advises on medicine safety. They took evidence directly from clinical experts, consultant paediatric endocrinologists and patient representatives, including representatives of trans people, young people and their families.
After thoroughly examining all the available evidence, they have concluded that prescribing puberty blockers to children for the purposes of gender dysphoria in the current prescribing environment represents, and I quote, ‘an unacceptable safety risk’. Of particular concern to the Commission was whether these children and their families were provided with enough time and information to give their full and informed consent.
On the basis of their findings, I am acting on the Commission’s advice to put an indefinite order in place to restrict the sale or supply of puberty blockers through a prescription issued by either a private UK prescriber or a prescriber registered outside the UK for under-18s.
on social media.
I am watching the Tory backbenchers as Kemi Badenoch gives another average performance at #PMQs.
There is almost no enthusiasm for her at all.
They are in much deeper trouble than they know.
PMQs.
Kemi Badenoch has urged Keir Starmer to remove UK citizenship from any “jihadi terrorists and supporters of Assad” who want to return from Syria.
The Conservative party leader said the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime could increase small boat arrivals to the UK, as she also attacked Starmer’s record on immigration.
Badenoch used PMQs to claim Starmer had “consistently backed criminals”, call on him to support a migration cap and ask him to apologise for signing a letter in February 2020 which called for a deportation flight to be halted.
She added “one of those criminals” who was not deported went on to murder someone, adding to Starmer in the Commons: “He was able to stay here and murder because people like this man campaigned against deporting criminals.”
Starmer defended his recorded and pointed to his five years of service as director of public prosecutions, while also accusing Badenoch of being a “champion” of the Tories’ “one nation experiment in open borders”.
On Monday, the UK announced it had paused decisions on asylum applications from Syrians following the collapse of the Assad regime.
Millions of Syrians fled the country after the outbreak of civil war and the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on opponents.
In her concluding remarks at PMQs, Badenoch said: “The prime minister has consistently backed criminals over law-abiding British people. He defended terrorists, like Hizb ut-Tahrir in the European court. He argued all immigration law had a racist undercurrent. He voted against life sentences for people smugglers. He voted against more than 100 measures to control migration. He even said it was wrong when the Conservatives took away Shamima Begum’s citizenship.”
Begum, who has been living in a Syrian refugee camp, was stripped of her citizenship after travelling to so-called Islamic State-controlled territory in the country as a 15-year-old in 2015.
Badenoch added: “Events in Syria mean we may see more small boat arrivals. For once will he take the side of the British people and strip citizenship from jihadi terrorists and supporters of Assad who want to come back and destroy this country?”
Starmer replied: “I was director of public prosecutions for five years. Unlike anyone on their benches, I was prosecuting for five years, hundreds of thousands of criminals, that includes huge terrorist gangs. I was working for three of those five years with the then-home secretary Theresa May, who commended the work that I did at the end of those five years. So for her to stand there and say, ‘I haven’t done anything in law enforcement’, I dedicated five years of my life to law enforcement, locking up criminals, which is more than she can say.
Labour has previously said Starmer was asked to give advice to Hizb ut-Tahri in a legal dispute between the group and the German government, adding he did not formally represent them
here) – all of this was in a massive file of “dirt’” on the Labour leader deployed by the Tories, and the rightwing papers, endlessly in the weeks and months before a general election. And none of it made much difference. Voters clearly took the view not being able to get a GP appointment, or having to wait 12 hours to be seen at A&E, mattered far, far more.
Today it felt as if Badenoch had just wandered over to the opposition research desk at CCHQ, dug out the old election folder on Starmer from the filing cabinet and decided to try using the material all over again. Not surprisingly, it did not work any better than it did for Rishi Sunak. What she did achieve, though, was to make Starmer sound genuinely angry and indignant, which worked for him quite well.
At one point Badenoch said that her party had “acknowledged where things went wrong”, as if that somehow insulated her from the Starmer argument that nothing the Tories say on policy has any real merit because of the abysmal inheritance they left. It is true that, with an apology, a party can wipe the slate seen. But it has to be colossal apology, one that people notice and remember. Can you remember when Badenoch apologised for the things that “went wrong” under the Tories? Do you think people who don’t read politics live blogs can remember one? Badenoch routine includes a line in speeches saying that of course “mistakes were made” under the last government, but she has not come close disowning those errors very obviously. The public have not noticed yet.
Badenoch also made the mistake of sounding extreme. Tony Blair, the best prime minister at PMQs in recent years, argued that it was important to be the person sounding the most reasonable in these exchanges. “They get angry; you get mild. They go over the top; you become a soothing voice of reason,” he wrote in his memoirs about PMQs. Starmer did not quite manage to be “soothing” when Badenoch launched her final attack on him. (See 12.17am.) But reasonable, sensible, mainstream people don’t think Starmer consistently backs criminals over law-abiding people. They might be open to the argument that Labour is soft, or naive, in some of its criminal justice views. But this hyperbole seems to be taking Badenoch down an electoral cul-de-sac.
So why is Badenoch doing it? The obvious answer is, because it is what she thinks. She is very rightwing. But maybe she is getting a bit spooked by Reform UK too. A recent ConservativeHome survey suggests 70% of Conservative members think Nigel Farage’s party poses the biggest challenge to them at the general election. Today she sounded like she was auditioning for his job, not Starmer’s.
Ellie Chowns (Green) asks about a constituent who could not get an ambulance because they were all stuck trying to unload patients. What will be done to resolve the care crisis, that means hospital beds are not available.
Starmer says the last government should “hang their heads in shame” over the state of the NHS. He says the government is addressing this.
Lizzi Collinge (Lab) asks about a fire that killed a man in Kirkby Lonsdale. What can be done to help the towns recover?
Starmer says he will arranged for Collinge to have a meeting with a minister.
Kirith Entwistle (Lab) asks about shoplifting. What more will the government do to tckle this and support shopworkers?
Starmer says shoplifting got “out of control” under the Tories. He says it is not low-level. It has a bit impact on staff. He says the government is funding training for the police, and supporting specialist analyst teams to crack down on the gangs responsible.
Source: theguardian.com
