𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The puberty blocker trial will be seen as “one of the darkest acts” of the Labour Government, a leading Tory has warned. Claire Coutinho, the Shadow Minister for Equalities, made a fresh plea to Health Secretary Wes Streeting for the clinical trial to be halted.

The controversial NHS study, which Ms Coutinho branded “Streeting’s trial”, will involve around 226 children as young as eight and is due to start early this year. Writing in the Daily Express, the Conservative frontbencher said: “These drugs put children on a path to lifelong infertility. Almost all will go on to take opposite-sex hormones and need medical treatment for the rest of their lives.

“Despite the Health Secretary saying he is uncomfortable with the trial, the Labour Government is pushing ahead with it regardless.

“This is nothing less than the state-sanctioned chemical castration of children and it will come to be seen as one of the darkest acts of this Government.

“This trial is open to children still in primary school. It does not exclude those with autism or learning disabilities.

“Studies show that the vast majority of children who question their biological sex no longer feel that way once they are through adolescence. Many grow up to realise that they are simply gay. Giving them puberty blocker drugs is not the answer.”

The trial was recommended by the Cass Review into children’s gender care, which concluded that the quality of research claiming to show the benefits of puberty blockers for youngsters with gender dysphoria was “poor”.

The medication, which is used to delay puberty, has been banned for under-18s since December 2024 following the review.

But critics including Harry Potter author JK Rowling have raised concerns over the harm the study could pose to youngsters.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have both called for the trial to be axed.

And dozens of cross-party MPs have signed a letter against it coordinated by independent MP Rosie Duffield.

Maya Forstater, CEO of sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, said: “There can be no justification for the NHS knowingly ruining the healthy bodies of vulnerable children through the puberty blockers trial.

“The buck stops with Wes Streeting. He has already expressed doubt about the trial. He cannot pass the buck to an ethics committee consisting of volunteers which met for just a few hours. His only honourable course of action now is to call a halt.

“Two thousand young adults in the UK were previously on puberty blockers as children, and we know nothing about their outcomes. Instead of putting yet more children at serious, foreseeable risk, the NHS should gather and analyse data about how they are faring now.”

The Health Secretary last month admitted the decision to go ahead with the trial is “one that I wrestle with on a daily basis”.

Mr Streeting told MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee: “All the way through, I’ve had to weigh up risk of harm to children and young people, which is why it’s not straightforward, why I’ve lent on clinical advice from people far more qualified than us to make these decisions.

“But this is not easy, and it is not a comfortable decision, and it’s one that I wrestle with on a daily basis.”

He added that he was “uncomfortable” both with the trial but also with the ban on puberty blockers, which was made permanent in December 2024.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Medical care must always be based on solid evidence, and children’s safety must come first.

“The expert Cass Review – which was accepted by the last government and this one – recommended a ban on puberty blockers for gender incongruence and that clinical research be carried out to address a lack of scientific evidence.

“This trial will help provide the evidence that is currently lacking. Its approval came only after extremely rigorous safety checks and with multiple safeguards in place to protect young people’s wellbeing – including clinical and parental approval.”