Labour MPs call on Burnham to scrap Conversion Practices Bill

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

9 November 2026

The Burnham government is pressing ahead with the draft bill to end conversion practices that was published in the dying days of Sir Keir Starmer's government.

Abusive practices such as "corrective rape" and attempts to "pray the gay away" are abhorrent, and they are, thankfully, already illegal. What this bill will really achieve is the criminalisation of parents and therapists who have well-intentioned conversations with gender-confused children, and of religious leaders who share their faith's teachings on sex, gender, and marriage with their congregations.

Parents who attempt to dissuade their children from embarking on dangerous, life-changing, and irreversible medical pathways before the age of eighteen could face up to five years in prison.

Labour MPs are said to be increasingly uneasy about this piece of legislation, with The Telegraph reporting that at least a dozen have told party whips that they are unhappy with the bill. A number of ministers are also said to have "grave concerns" — as well they should.

The Labour peer and founder of the influential Blue Labour group, Lord Glasman, told The Telegraph:

Putting parents at risk of prosecution for trying to protect their children is something no Labour government should even consider.

Tonia Antoniazzi, the Labour MP for Gower since 2017, has also made her concerns heard, saying that she fears the bill will have a chilling effect on parents who want to give their child loving advice, as is their right. She has called on the Prime Minister to step in and scrap this piece of legislation.

Speaking to The Telegraph, which has launched a campaign against the bill, she said:

Mothers are often closest to their children – they need to be brave and strong and look after their children. If parents are criminalised and families divided, it is mothers who will be affected.

When the bill was announced in the last King's Speech, the free speech Union warned that it would have dire consequences for free speech, above all for conversations between parents and their children.

It is therefore encouraging to see a number of Labour MPs sounding the alarm about the threat that this bill poses to the conversations parents and children have at the dinner table.

Steve Yemm, the Labour MP for Mansfield, said:

I support banning abusive and coercive conversion practices, but we must ensure that parents, teachers and clinicians can have open and honest conversations with young people questioning their gender, without fear of criminalisation.

Biological sex matters, and legitimate gender-critical beliefs must remain protected. I welcome the parliamentary scrutiny of the draft bill and hope it will address these concerns.

I remain sceptical but I have an open mind and would be willing to support legislation that protects people from genuine abuse while safeguarding freedom of belief and appropriate clinical care.

Another Labour MP, Mary Glindon, said that parents could become "criminally liable" for offering cautionary advice under the draft bill. She added:

The expert evidence has been clear: the drafting of this bill could result in parents, faith leaders, teachers and counsellors being unfairly restricted or even punished for raising concerns or questions about a young person's decision to transition.

This would undermine important findings from the Cass Report, which recommends taking a "cautious approach" in light of various unknown consequences and potential harms of interventions like puberty blockers or chest binders.

Concerningly, the proposed offence in the draft bill does not even require an intention to cause any harm.

Parents, guardians, and other adults entrusted with caring for vulnerable people must not be put in a position where offering caring or cautionary advice could leave them criminally liable.

The Labour MP Graham Stringer told The Telegraph that his biggest fear about the bill was that "parents would be denied the right to help their children if they were having deep anxieties about their sexuality, as lots of adolescents do". Mr Stringer said that he would watch the debate closely but that, on what he now knows of the bill, he would vote against it.

Last month, Preet Kaur Gill MP, who served as a health minister earlier this year, warned that parents could face prosecution under the draft legislation, including for trying to dissuade their children from pursuing medical interventions before the age of eighteen.

Gill, a former social care worker, acknowledged that the government may be well-intentioned in its aims, but said that the drafting of the bill risked actually harming children. She voiced "serious concerns", including that it was not in keeping with the 2024 Cass Review into gender identity services for children.

It is time for Burnham to listen to his MPs and drop this bill. It is dangerous, illiberal, and invasive, and it will rip families apart.

Read more in The Telegraph, sign the Free Speech Union's petition and use our tool to submit evidence to the Joint Committee of MPs and peers scrutinising the bill.