Transgender guidance for schools 'breaches equalities law' as Sunak forced to delay new plans

It is claimed that No10 and the women and equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, wanted to hardened guidance following pressure from Tory MPs.

The Government commissioned legal advice from Victoria Prentis, the attorney-general, about the ban on social transitioning in schools.

However, she concluded last week that the guidance would be unlawful and the Government would need to pass new legislation for it to go any further.

Plans were due to be published by the end of the week, but this is now unlikely following the attorney-general’s advice, according to The Times.

A government source said: “We have consistently said that this is about protecting children, empowering parents, and supporting teachers and school leaders by providing guidance for them to implement.

"It’s a complex and sensitive area and it’s right we get it right. More information is needed about the long-term implications of allowing a child to act as though they are the opposite sex and the impact that may have on other children too.”

Proposals to strengthen the guidance were reportedly put forward by No10 and Badenoch with the strongest being a blanket ban on social transitioning.

Social transitioning is the process where transgender children or adults change their name, pronouns, and gender expression, such as clothing and haircuts, that match their new gender identity.

Prentis claimed that a blanket ban would be unlawful due to the Equalities Act which states that gender reassignment is a “protected characteristic”, despite age.

She gave the same advice when ministers asked whether there could be a ban on social transitioning for primary school children.

The attorney-general and government lawyers told ministers to revisit the guidance and stated that nobody “should” be compelled unless there was a “particular justification” for doing so.

"The government wants to go further but the problem is that this is guidance. It is coming up against the Equalities Act which is the law. If the government wants to go further, it has to change the law," a Whitehall source told The Times.

A spokeswoman for the attorney-general’s office said: “By longstanding convention, reflected in the ministerial code, whether the law officers have been asked to provide legal advice and the content of any advice is not disclosed outside government without their explicit consent. That consent is rarely given.”