'People can't be any sex they want to be', Sunak tells Tory conference

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has used his speech at the Conservative Party conference to underscore his government’s views on gender, stating that it is “just common sense” to say that a man is a man and a woman is a woman.

Speaking to delegates in Manchester, Sunak, who was introduced by his wife, Akshata Murty, said it “shouldn’t be controversial” for parents to want to know what their children “are being taught in school about relationships” and that “patients should know when hospitals are talking about men and women”.

“We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be,” he said. “They can’t – a man is a man and a woman is a woman, that’s common sense.”

The statement elicited a large cheer from the crowd, including from equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, who earlier this year said the government was looking into banning trans women from entering female-only spaces.

Yesterday Health Secretary Steve Barclay told delegates that he plans to push back against what he termed “wokery” by putting such a ban in place to prevent trans women from being treated in female hospital wards in England.

He said the government will consult on making changes to the NHS constitution that would include giving patients the right to request same-sex intimate care in medical settings. The government is also stipulating that sex-specific language be used when dealing with women’s health.

“We need a common-sense approach to sex and equality issues in the NHS, that is why today I am announcing proposals for clearer rights for patients,” he said.

"And I can today confirm that sex-specific language has now been fully restored to online health advice pages about cervical and ovarian cancer and the menopause.

"It is vital that women's voices are heard in the NHS and the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients are protected."

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is widely seen as having used her speech to conference as a soft pitch for the party leadership, also railed against “gender ideology” as “woke” and “highly controversial”, telling delegates it has been presented to the public as a “motherhood and apple pie” idea.

She announced a lifetime ban on sex offenders changing their name or gender in an attempt to prevent them from evading the sex offence register.

Tory London Assembly member Andrew Boff was ejected from the auditorium for heckling Braverman. He later told journalists that while he is “a loyal Tory” the “trash about gender ideology is making our Conservative party look transphobic and homophobic”.

Braverman yesterday told Sky News that trans women have “no place” in women’s hospital wards “or indeed any safe space relating to biological women”.

“The health secretary is absolutely right to clarify and make it clear that biological men should not have treatment in the same wards as biological women,” she said.

“This is about protecting women’s dignity and women’s safety and privacy. Therefore, I am incredibly supportive and welcome the announcement today by the health secretary.”

A spokesperson for the LGBT charity Stonewall called Barclay’s announcement "a cynical attempt by the secretary of state to look busy instead of getting on with the graft of implementing the women's health strategy".

"Besides being unworkable, all it will achieve is to restrict access to healthcare for trans women, by making it humiliating and dangerous," they said.