The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has finally admitted that the 2021 census figures on the transgender population of England and Wales are irredeemably flawed. They no longer count as ‘accredited official statistics’. This is the first time that data from the decennial census – the backbone of British statistics since 1801 – has been downgraded.
This humiliating climb-down came just a week before the Office for Statistics Regulation published its final review on these statistics. This review had been provoked by my critique of the census transgender figures, publicized in the Spectator last year. Until now, the ONS has brushed aside criticism from sociologists such as myself and Alice Sullivan, and from human rights campaigners like Maya Forstater of Sex Matters and Nicola Williams of Fair Play for Women.
We all deserve accurate national statistics, whether we identify as transgender or not
The 2021 census was the first to collect data on transgender people and on gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
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