Labour’s gender ID plan ‘will make it easier for dangerous male criminals to claim they are women’
SIR Keir Starmer’s planned gender reforms will make it easier for dangerous male criminals and child abusers to say they are women, a minister warns today.
The Labour leader is considering allowing a GP to sign off requests to change gender formally instead of a panel of experts.
Opponents claim it effectively means introducing self-identification – as family doctors do not have the time or expertise to make a final decision.
In today’s Daily Express, Maria Caulfield, the Minister for Women, insists: “Hard-pressed family doctors do not have the specialist knowledge required to establish whether a person has gender dysphoria or the time to carry out all of the checks to ensure the person is applying in good faith.
“Making it easier for male criminals and child abusers to claim they are women just shows that Labour have learned nothing about the way people seek to cheat the system.
“Their proposed changes would lead to more people in prisons self-IDing to get access to vulnerable women and more males seeking to access women’s-only spaces.”
Under proposals being considered by Labour, Gender Recognition Certificates – which allow people to change the sex on their birth certificate – could be signed off by just a single family doctor.
The Royal College of GPs said its members were working under pressure and raised concerns about “shifting sole responsibility” for signing off the documents to them.
Outcry
Labour ruled out self-ID – where a person can officially change their gender without any medical assessment – last year. It followed an outcry when rapist Isla Bryson, who changed gender while waiting to stand trial, was initially jailed in Scotland’s only all-female prison. Shonna Graham,
Bryson’s estranged wife, said he had never talked about wanting to become a woman during their relationship.
The case led to a rapid reform north of the border, with newly-convicted or transgender prisoners placed in jails according to their birth sex.
Opponents fear self-ID could be abused by men who want to gain access to women-only areas..
A Labour spokesman said: “This rubbish shows the Minister forWomen hasn’t bothered to understand Labour’s plans.
“Labour is committed to protecting single sex spaces for biological women, including in prisons, as provided for by Labour’s EqualityAct.We have no plans to change that.”