Puberty Blockers

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield Hallam) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine), and I agree wholeheartedly with her comments about homophobia.

I remind the House that I am a former biomedical scientist, and I have probably read lots more medical publications than many in this Chamber. I have also volunteered many times for medical research, either as a healthy patient in my younger years or as a patient now in my slightly older years, so I know the process from both sides. I think it is really important that we recognise that the UK has some of the highest standards for medical research, especially when it involves patients. There is talk about why there is no placebo, but sometimes it is not ethical to do a placebo-based trial. If we are withholding a form of medical intervention from someone just to prove that the next best thing will be the next best thing, that is not ethically right, because we are withholding medical care when someone needs it. That is very different from a healthy patient model, in which we are treating healthy patients to see if there is a biological change that would be harmful to all patients.

All too often, healthcare for the trans community is marked by lengthy wait lists, inconsistent treatment and discrimination—we have heard some of that stigma today—and there needs to be a concerted effort to change that. We have heard a lot about safeguarding children, and I think everyone in the Chamber agrees that that must be paramount, but I fear we are dividing trans children from other children when it comes to their medical needs and what support should be in place.

I am pleased that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care confirmed yesterday that the Pathways trial will go ahead. We have heard many Members mention that young people getting better is a way through this, but that is very stigmatising for those who do hold on to their trans identity into adulthood. In fact, very many—the majority—of young trans people will go on to be trans adults, and we also know that those who detransition do in some instances retransition, because they detransitioned for the social reasons of not having a supportive family and other social pressures. This is not as static as some may think, and in fact young people often raise that fluidity with me.

Young trans people need this trial to move forward. For many, this represents the only legal route to access puberty suppressants at the moment. A pathway can be profoundly impactful, and we have heard people describe it as lifesaving. This has not fallen from the sky. There are well-established scientific and clinical precedents for the use of puberty-suppressing hormones, supported by decades of research and medical practice, and for a variety of different conditions. Even fertility clinics use these drugs in some of their regimes with certain patients. As I have mentioned, placebos are not the solution to making this a safer trial.

Puberty-suppressing hormones are not new and they are not experimental. They have been used safely since the 1980s, and we have decades of clinical experience of supporting their use in controlled settings. But instead of engaging seriously with the potential benefits of such a trial, the Opposition have framed the issue as part of a broader culture war that is trying to erase trans children’s identities. By removing healthcare, we are not going to remove trans children; they will look for alternative access to treatments, including, as we have heard, starving themselves to prevent puberty starting. That is horrific to hear—as someone who has been very active on eating disorders, that is really quite terrifying.

We should be focused on ensuring that the voices of those people who will be most impacted—the young people and their families—are part of the discussion. The way in which the trial has been put together is of course not perfect—no medical trial is perfect—but it is really, really important, and the risk of harm from not going ahead with the trial has to outweigh the risk of harm from doing the trial. We need the data and the understanding, so we can make the right decisions when designing the clinical interventions and services that should be available to young people. Anyone who is denying that should think again about why they are making that argument. This issue is not about whether trans young people exist; it is about whether we choose to respond with the real—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. I call Carla Lockhart.