Each main UK political party’s policies on LGBTQ+ rights explained

This is where the five main national parties stand on heated issues such as trans rights.

With less than five weeks to go until the general election, many voters will have made up their mind on who they’re voting for.

But many others remain undecided, and may look for inspiration from particular policy areas such as gender and sexuality-based rights.

Unfortunately, none of the major parties have published their manifestos yet – this tends to happen closer to poll day.

But we can get some clues from pledges and comments made by their leaders, as well as each party’s record on votes in parliament. Here’s a run-down for the five national parties leading the polls:

Labour’s stance on trans rights and other issues

The Labour party are so comfortably ahead in the polls that it’s reasonable to expect that their policies will be those of the next government.

Labour has been the architect of several major bills extending LGBTQ+ rights.

They include the repeal of Section 28, introduction of Civil Partnerships and Gender Recognition Act passed under Tony Blair, as well as the Equality Act 2010 under Gordon Brown.

The party also supported the introduction of same-sex marriage passed by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2013, with more Labour MPs helping to pass the bill than both ruling parties put together.

When it comes to policy proposals, the current mainstream debate on LGBTQ+ rights is lagely centred on trans issues.

One proposal backed by Labour leader Keir Starmer is to introduce a ‘full, trans-inclusive, ban on all forms of conversion therapy’.

While the government last year banned any practices trying to force people to change their sexuality, it has repeatedly delayed a pledge to include gender identity, saying that further work is needed to avoid ‘unintended consequences’.

The Tories are still technically committed to banning gender identity therapy, but there is still no clear timetable.

It’s not yet clear exactly how Labour would handle things differently.

Mr Starmer has also said the Gender Recognition Act, which allows trans people to legally change gender, needs to be updated.

Shadow women and equalities minister Anneliese Dodds has said this will not include allowing people to legally change gender without a ‘medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria’.

However she said Labour will ‘modernise, simplify and reform’ the process to remove ‘intrusive, outdated and humiliating’ requirements.

Mr Starmer has also suggested that Labour will not stop sports organisations from banning trans women from competing, nor will it force competitions to exclude them.

He told The Telegraph in March: ‘The important thing is that sports governing bodies take a lead on this. And they are doing that, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing, particularly in elite sport.’

‘That’s where the decision should be taken, and, in the end, common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity of sport.’

Mr Starmer has also signalled he would support NHS reforms banning trans people from single-sex hospital wards.

Where do the Tories stand on LGBTQ+ reforms?

Following the party’s ‘modernisation’ on social issues under David Cameron, Conservative governments have introduced a number of reforms welcomed by LGTBQ+ rights groups.

These include the introduction of same-sex marriage in 2013, the easing of blood donation rules for men who have sex with men in 2021, and last year’s ban on conversion therapy for sexuality.

However the party is staunchly opposed to self-identification for trans people, insisting that doctors must effectively sign off on any change to someone’s legal gender.

It repeatedly delayed and then scrapped reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, despite a public consultation finding overwhelming support for changes among trans people and clinicians alike.

Last year, the government said it supports NHS reforms banning trans people from single-sex wards.

Questions have long been raised over whether the Tories can be generally counted on to champion LGBTQ+ rights reforms when its biggest achievement in that area – gay marriage – needed the support of Lib Dem ministers and MPs to pass.

Indeed, the party has been accused of overseeing a shift in tone. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman last year accused ‘many’ asylum seekers of trying to ‘game our system’ by pretending to be homosexual.

People making asylum claims on the grounds of sexuality are in fact disproportionately likely to be rejected.

She also announced that the Home Office had ended ‘all association with Stonewall’, the largest LGBTQ+ rights organisation in the UK.

A leaked video previously showed Rishi Sunak accuse the Lib Dems of ‘trying to convince everybody that women clearly had penises’, in comments widely seen as rejecting the notion that trans women are women.

What about the Lib Dems?

The Liberal Democrat website states the party ‘rejects all prejudice’ and that ‘trans people are entitled to the same rights as everyone else’.

Its leader, Ed Davey, has publicly stated that women ‘quite clearly’ can have penises, putting him in contrast to Rishi Sunak, who mocked the idea.

In its last manifesto, the Lib Dems pledged to reform the Gender Recognition Act and require schools to introduce gender-neutral uniform.

They are also committed to including gender identity on the conversion therapy ban and said it is ‘disappointing’ that the Tories have dragged their heels on the matter.

The main policy that sets the Lib Dems apart from the biggest two parties is their insistence that trans people should be allowed to access ‘any’ single-sex services such as domestic abuse shelters.

In contrast, Labour and the Tories both support bans on trans people in same-sex NHS wards.

It’s not clear whether ‘services’ include things like sporting competitions, however.

The Green Party’s stance

The Green Party has firmly stated that ‘trans men are men, trans women are women, and non-binary identities exist and are valid’.

It has published a long list of ambitions to ‘push for further acceptance of transgender and non-binary people within all areas of society’, although not many of these amount to clear policy proposals.

The party’s most concrete pledge is to reform the Gender Recognition act to make it easier for people to legally change gender.

It says people should be ’empowered to update their birth certificate and any other official documents, without medical or state encumbrance’.

This would likely mean removing the need for a doctor’s diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

The party would also remove the right of someone who is married to a trans person to veto their spouse’s request to legally change gender.

The Greens’ policy ambitions are overall supportive of trans rights in language and suggest more reforms would be pursued, but it’s not clear how they would take shape.

For example, the party criticises the lack of access to gendered services for trans people and the ‘outing’ of trans sportspeople but does not say how it would change this in government.

Reform UK’s ‘culture war’ pledges

Co-founded by Nigel Farage and led by Richard Tice, Reform UK is by far the least supportive party when it comes to expanding LGBTQ+ rights.

Its only sitting MP, Tory defector Lee Anderson, previously said he sees the upcoming election as fundamentally about ‘culture wars and trans debate’.

The party has vowed to ban ‘transgender ideology’, although it’s extremely vague on how it would do this.

Its main policy document states: ‘No gender questioning, social transitioning or pronoun swapping. Inform parents of under-16s about their children’s life decisions.’

Any attempt to ban people from ‘questioning their gender’ or using different pronouns would face immense legal challenges.

This is because such behaviour falls under free speech, which is protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as how freedom of expression is enshrined in English common law.

Reform UK has pledged to withdraw the UK from the ECHR, but it’s not clear how it would overcome challenges based on common law.

Besides repealing the ECHR, Reform UK also vows to replace the Equality Act, although it doesn’t say what the act would be replaced with.

The party has also pledged to force all public and private services in the UK to provide single-sex facilities.

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