The Isle of Wight’s 2 MPs clashed in Parliament earlier this week (Tuesday) over plans to give puberty blockers to children as young as 10.
Labour’s Richard Quigley and Conservative Joe Robertson took opposing sides during a Commons debate over whether an NHS-backed clinical trial should go ahead.
The proposed PATHWAYS study would involve around 225 children and young people experiencing gender incongruence.
Puberty blockers are medicines that temporarily stop children going through puberty. They delay changes such as breast development, voice breaking and facial hair growth. Critics say the drugs could affect bone strength, fertility and sexual development, although supporters argue more research is needed to establish exactly what the risks are.
The debate comes as a new Whitestone Insight poll suggests public opinion is firmly against the trial. The survey found almost 2 in 3 adults (63%) think it should be stopped, while just 18% believe it should go ahead. More than 2-thirds (67%) said puberty blockers should never be given to under-18s, even as part of a clinical trial.
Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson was among those calling for the study to be halted.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Robertson argued the issue was about much more than medical evidence.
Mr Robertson said:
“This is much more than a clinical question. It is an ethical question, a moral question and a legal question.”
He questioned whether children could ever fully understand the lifelong consequences of taking puberty blockers.
Mr Robertson told MPs:
“I challenge anyone to stand up and back the idea that a child under the age of 13 understands what it is like to give up the possibility of fertility.”
He also questioned whether parents could properly give consent on behalf of their children, comparing the issue with laws on sexual consent and recent restrictions on children’s access to social media.
In a separate intervention, Mr Robertson challenged the Government directly.
He said:
“What bar could be higher than a Government protecting children from being tested on with drugs specifically to stop or alter their sexual development?
“These tests are on him.”
But Isle of Wight West MP Richard Quigley defended the trial and accused Conservatives of opposing it without offering any alternative.
Mr Quigley said:
“The Conservatives are, of course, entitled to their opposition, but what alternative are they actually proposing?
“As usual, they have found an apparent problem, but where is their suggested solution?”
The Labour MP warned that an outright ban could drive vulnerable young people towards unsafe and unregulated treatments.
He told the Commons:
“If their answer is an outright ban, they risk driving vulnerable young people into what Dr Hilary Cass has described as ‘unregulated and dangerous routes’.”
Mr Quigley said Conservatives had previously accepted Dr Hilary Cass’s independent review and questioned why they were now rejecting her support for further research.
He said:
“If we cannot trust Dr Hilary Cass, the author of a report that the Conservative party itself has endorsed, when she says she is ‘absolutely convinced that more children will be harmed if we don’t do the trial than if we do’, who exactly are we prepared to trust?”
Mr Quigley argued the proposed study had been subjected to rigorous scientific and ethical scrutiny by regulators and researchers.
The Conservative motion to stop the trial was defeated in the House of Commons, meaning the NHS-backed study will now go ahead.
