The true cause of No. 10’s conversion therapy muddle

The government has had to bow to the inevitable and cancel its own international LGBT conference after more than 100 organisations withdrew their support as a protest against the decision to not ban conversion therapy for transgender people. The die was cast much further back than last week’s botched double-U-turn on a ban on gay conversion therapy: it was when ministers committed to the legislation without thinking it through at all.

This latest row highlights one of the serious problems with the way Westminster deals with legislation. Its focus is almost entirely upon the principles at stake, rather than the impact of the way the laws are drafted. This means that if someone raises concerns about the unintended consequences of a proposed bill, their critics will engage with them not on the point of detail they are concerned about, but on the overall principle.

In this case, there were concerns from bodies such as the Equalities and Human Rights Commission about the possibility that the proposed law might accidentally criminalise doctors and counsellors who are helping under-18s to explore whether they are experiencing gender dysphoria or are uncomfortable with their bodies for another reason.