LABOUR MP ‘MAY HAVE MISLED’ PARLIAMENT WITH RESPONSE TO CASS REVIEW
A Labour MP admitted on Monday she “may have misled” the House of Commons by quoting a briefing issued by Stonewall in response to the Cass Review.
Dawn Butler claimed in a debate last week that “over 100 studies” were excluded from the landmark report into gender identity services by Dr Hilary Cass, a paediatric consultant.
But Dr Cass clarified over the weekend that researchers examined a total of 103 papers, eventually including 60 datasets that were deemed to be high or medium quality.
Acknowledging she had relied on the LGBT charity for her information, Ms Butler said: “I was quoting Stonewall’s briefing and there was some fallout from this.
“I spent the week in conversation with Stonewall and Dr Cass. By quoting this briefing, it seems as though I may have inadvertently misled the House.”
She added: “Having spent the weekend speaking to Dr Cass, for which I’m very grateful for her time, she’s made it very clear not just to me but through a number of clarifications … that all reports were included, but both high and moderate quality reports were considered as part of the evidence review.”
Ms Butler, who served as shadow equalities secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, went on to argue the Cass report had been “hijacked by anti-trans groups”.
She said she was grateful to be able to “practise what I preach” by correcting the record after being ejected from the Commons in 2021 for calling Boris Johnson, the then prime minister, a “liar”.
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at the campaign group Sex Matters, said: “It’s a relief that anti-science narratives undermining Dr Cass’s evidence-based review of child gender medicine will be removed from the parliamentary record.
“Her welcome correction cites the source of the false figures as Stonewall. Elected politicians have a duty to combat misinformation, not to repeat false talking points from activists who seem careless about facts – especially when those facts have a bearing on the welfare of children.”
The Cass Review was published earlier this month and found there was no good evidence available on the long-term effects of treatments such as puberty blockers that have been given to children identifying as transgender.
It called for early help for primary school children who want to socially transition and said the “toxicity” of the transgender debate was hampering medical research.
Stonewall has been attacked by gender-critical campaigners over the training it offers employers on gender-neutral language, facilities and the use of pronouns.
The charity supported the use of puberty blockers on young people wanting to change gender, while also telling schools to shred a research pack from another charity which pointed out the risks associated with the medicine.
A Stonewall spokesman said: “In early analyses of the Cass Review, it was unclear how and why research had been graded, and the consequent impact this would have on the report’s recommendations and implementation.
“We are grateful to Dr Cass for taking the time to clarify that both ‘high’ and ‘moderate’ quality research were considered as part of the evidence review, both in the media and directly to trans and LGBTQ+ organisations.
“It is important that the confidence of trans children and young people is safeguarded during this process, and this is an important step towards achieving that aim. We have updated our MP contacts over the weekend to reflect these clarifications.”
2024-04-22T21:04:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd