Trans women to be banned from female hospital wards, under new Tory proposals
Transgender women will be banned from being treated in female hospital wards, under new proposals suggested by the health secretary.
In his conference speech, Steve Barclay will reportedly announce plans to push back against what he calls “wokery” in the NHS, which he says has led to women’s rights being increasingly sidelined.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Barclay said: “We need a common-sense approach to sex and equality issues in the NHS. That is why I am announcing proposals for clearer rights for patients.”
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He added “sex-specific language” has also been “restored” to 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,” he said.
A source close to Mr Barclay told Sky News he was “fed up with this agenda and the damage it’s causing, language like ‘chestfeeding’, talking about pregnant ‘people’ rather than women”.
They added: “It exasperates the vast majority of people, and he is determined to take action on it.
“He is concerned that women’s voices should be heard on healthcare and that too often wokery and ideological dogma is getting in the way of this.”
In April, Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said the government could ban trans women from entering female-only spaces, and asked parliament’s human rights watchdog for its advice to change official wording from just “sex” to “biological sex”, which she described as a “technical and contested area of law”.
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Who are the New Conservatives?
New medical schools on the way – but Labour says they already exist
Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Barclay will announce an expansion of NHS training and funding of new technology in the health service.
He will also announce new medical schools in Worcester, Chester and Uxbridge, as well as an increase in the number of places up and down the country for students wanting to train to be doctors.
However, Labour said the three “new” schools announced already exist, adding the restrictions on the number of government-funded places mean they are only training international students.
Mr Barclay’s speech will be set amid the latest round of junior doctor and consultant strikes in England.
They are taking joint action, with Christmas Day levels of cover expected until Wednesday.
It follows two days of strike action at the end of September and coincides with Rishi Sunak’s first Conservative Party conference as leader and prime minister.
The Conservatives will be hoping to grapple back control of its conference in Manchester, which has been dominated with leaks regarding the northern phase of HS2 – which Sky News understands will be scrapped in the coming days.
While Number 10 says no decisions have been made, it is thought the section of the high speed rail project between Birmingham and Manchester will now be shelved.
The license was granted after a new policy from Singapore’s Monetary Authority required all crypto firms based in the country to register.
Based on an evaluation between December 2023 and January 2025, the IRS Criminal Investigation did not always follow guidelines around seizing and holding crypto in cases.
Politics
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is ‘totally’ up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs
The chancellor has said she was having a “tough day” yesterday in her first public comments since appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions – but insisted she is “totally” up for the job.
Rachel Reeves told broadcasters: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.
“My job as chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government, and that’s what I tried to do.
“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.”
Politics latest: PM sets out 10-year NHS plan
She declined to give a reason behind the tears, saying “it was a personal issue” and “it wouldn’t be right” to divulge it.
“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job,” she added.
Ms Reeves also said she is “totally” up for the job of chancellor, saying: “This is the job that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m proud of what I’ve delivered as chancellor.”
Reeves was seen wiping away tears during PMQs. Pic: PA
Asked if she was surprised that Sir Keir Starmer did not back her more strongly during PMQs, she reiterated that she and the prime minister are a “team”, saying: “We fought the election together, we changed the Labour Party together so that we could be in the position to return to power, and over the past year, we’ve worked in lockstep together.”
PM: ‘I was last to appreciate’ that Reeves was crying
The chancellor’s comments come after the prime minister told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that he “didn’t appreciate” that she was crying behind him at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday because the weekly sessions are “pretty wild”, which is why he did not offer her any support while in the chamber.
He added: “It wasn’t just yesterday – no prime minister ever has had side conversations during PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there’s a bit more time, but in PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang. That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”
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Starmer explains to Beth Rigby his reaction to Reeves crying in PMQs
During PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill, leaving a “black hole” in the public finances.
The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening – but a total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill, which was the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s lone parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.
Ms Reeves has borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.
Ms Badenoch also said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she will, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
Downing Street scrambled to make clear to journalists that Ms Reeves was “going nowhere”, and the prime minister has since stated publicly that she will remain as chancellor “for many years to come”.
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