Comparing the three main party manifestos on sex and gender

The three major political parties all published their general-election manifestos last week. Each took a different position, with several pledges relating to sex and gender identity included but some notable omissions. 

We are asking candidates and parties to #StandUpForSingleSexServices:

• Stand up for single-sex services and sports for women and girls.
• Protect children by implementing the Cass Report and finalising guidance for schools.
• Say no to gender self-id, and get sex recorded clearly and accurately.
• Drop dangerous plans to criminalise so-called “conversion therapy”.
• Make sure no-one is hounded out of their job for saying sex is real.

How do the manifestos compare?

The Liberal Democrat manifesto 

The first manifesto published was from the Lib Dems, with For a Fair Deal launched on 10th June. 

The relevant policies: 

❌ Reform the gender-recognition process to remove the requirement for medical reports – thereby introducing gender self-ID.

❌ Remove the “spousal veto” – the consent clause that allows up to six months for someone to exit a marriage before their partner is granted a gender-recognition certificate.

❌ Legal recognition for “non-binary” identities.

❌ Ban conversion practices.

❌ No mention of the Cass Review or commitment to delivering evidence-based care for gender-questioning children. 

🔲 Introduce data collection and publication requirements for “gender” rather than “sex”.

These policies are the reverse of standing up for single-sex services, and they would dismantle decades of legal provisions designed to protect women’s and girls’ rights. They centre the wishes of adults who identify as not being the sex they are while failing to consider the human rights of everybody else. 

The proposals mean removing the rights of spouses whose partners apply for gender-recognition certificates, removing access to exploratory talking therapy for children who are questioning their gender by banning “conversion practices”, disregarding the Cass Review and ignoring the impact on everybody – particularly women – of failing to collect sex-based data. 

Read our detailed analysis of the Lib Dem manifesto. 

The Conservative manifesto 

The Conservative and Unionist Party launched its manifesto, subtitled Clear plan. bold action. secure future, on 11th June. The policies and pledges relating to sex and gender set a benchmark for serious, evidence-based policy-making on sex and gender. 

✅ primary legislation to clarify that the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act means biological sex. 

✅ Amend the NHS Constitution so that it recognises every patient’s right to request single-sex accommodation and same-sex intimate care.

✅ Make legal gender a reserved matter to the United Kingdom, so the Scottish and Welsh governments cannot introduce self-ID. 

✅ Give parents a right to see what their children are being taught in relationships and sex education.

✅ Implement the Cass Review recommendations, protecting young people questioning their gender from ideologically driven care and ensuring that gender provision for children in England is evidence-based.

✅ Make the guidance for schools on gender-questioning children statutory.

✅ Drop the previous government’s plan to ban so-called “conversion therapy”.

✅ Legislate to permanently prevent the private prescription and supply of puberty blockers to children with gender distress. 

Read our detailed analysis of the Conservative manifesto.

The Labour manifesto 

Labour’s manifesto, titled Change, was published on 13th June. The set of policies is a mixed bag:

✅ Implement the Cass Report recommendations to ensure appropriate and high-quality care for young people.

❌ Ban “conversion therapy”.

🔲 Silent on taking forward guidance for schools on gender-questioning children.

🔲 Silent on commitment to ensure single-sex hospital provision.

🔲 Give “continued” support for single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act 2010. 

❌ Reform gender-recognition law to make it easier for people to gain gender-recognition certificates, risking self-ID of sex by the back door. 

✅ Drop previous plans to remove the “spousal veto” on gender-recognition certificates.

🔲 Create a new single enforcement body for employment rights, more guidance for employers on the law and a social value standard, incentivised by public procurement. 

Taken together, these policies paint a confused picture. The commitment to implementing the Cass Review recommendations is welcome, but conflicts with the pledge to ban conversion therapy: proponents of such a ban are seeking to stop any therapeutic approach to children who are questioning their gender other than unquestioningly affirming their “trans identity”.

Crucially, although the recognition of the importance of the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act is welcome in itself, when taken alongside the pledge to simplify the process for obtaining a GRC it puts single-sex spaces under threat. Service providers will be left unsure whether they can say No to trans-identifying males who want to access women-only spaces, whether or not they have a certificate saying they are female. The manifesto professes pride in the 2010 Equality Act (which was passed by Labour), but for the act to provide the protection to women it was intended to, the legislation needs to be clarified. 

When it comes to the new employment-rights body promised in the manifesto, the devil is in the detail. It might offer protection to those with gender-critical beliefs, or it might roll out a scheme more like Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Programme.

Read our detailed analysis of the Labour manifesto.

Scorecard

Our scorecard brings the above analyses together and assesses each party’s manifesto promises against our five campaign asks.

Will you…?	Conservative	Labour	Lib Dem
Stand up for single-sex services and sports for women and girls	✅	🔲	❌
Protect children by implementing the Cass Report and finalising guidance for schools	✅	✅  / 🔲	❌
Say no to gender self-id, and get sex recorded clearly and accurately	✅	🔲	❌
Drop dangerous plans to criminalise so called “conversion therapy”	✅	❌	❌
Make sure no-one is hounded out of their job for saying sex is real	🔲	🔲	❌