PATHWAYS Study: Puberty Suppression

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am sure that the noble Lord will understand from my earlier comments that I do not accept the characterisation of the trial. I urge all noble Lords to look at the facts on the safety provisions, requirements and stringency, which have massively increased—perhaps since some noble Lords originally looked at the matter. Implicit in the noble Lord’s query is to question why we are having a clinical trial when there are a number of children who have already taken puberty blockers. That is a fair question, but I remind the noble Lord that the conclusion of the noble Baroness, Lady Cass, was that there was not enough evidence, for all the reasons I referred to.

It might be helpful to make clear that the information collected by the linkage study, to which the noble Lord referred, is much more limited than the detailed information that the research team will be able to collect on the relative benefits and the risks. I confirm that NHS England, which is responsible for the data linkage study, is taking the time to ensure that data is shared by the relevant organisations—which, after all, is exactly what we are all after.

[Baroness Thornton (Lab)]

My Lords, it is such a shame that the party opposite resiled from cross-party agreement on this research. It is fair to question its motivation for doing that and possibly reach the conclusion that it is unsympathetic to trans people. I welcome the Statement and my noble friend’s calm approach, which contrasts sharply with some of the language that has been used around this important issue. When it comes to the PATHWAYS trial, does my noble friend agree that we must follow the science and avoid vilification, polarising language and politicisation, for the good of young people and our communities?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I certainly do agree with my noble friend. Indeed, her observations apply to any matters in respect of health, which should be evidence-led, based on fact, and based and rooted in scientific evidence. What we are dealing with here, as I said, is effectively a choice: a choice to do nothing and continue not providing the right healthcare in a safe and correct manner or to seek the evidence, as an independent review by the most esteemed paediatrician—as I said, it started under the previous Government, and rightly so—has advised us to do. I must emphasise that, if anybody listened, as I did, to the Secretary of State making his Statement in the House of Commons, I hope they will have got a sense that, actually, no one has jumped into this decision. What the Secretary of State said was that it was important to step back and look at the evidence. He himself told the Chamber how challenging he felt that was. I ask noble Lords never to underestimate how challenging this is, no matter what Government, what party, or what individual.