Health secretary Wes Streeting has said he is “genuinely sorry” for the “fear and anxiety” caused by the Labour government’s ban on puberty blockers for trans youth.

The comment was made by the Labour cabinet member at the Unison National Healthcare Service Group Conference in Liverpool on Wednesday (9 April).

A temporary ban on private prescriptions of puberty blockers was first put in place in May 2024 in England by the then-Conservative government following the publication of the controversial Cass Review, which urged “extreme caution” when prescribing puberty blockers to trans youth.

After ousting the Tories from power, Keir Starmer’s Labour government extended the ban, amid much criticism from the trans and wider LGBTQ+ community.

In December 2024, the Department for Health and Social Care announced puberty blockers for under-18s with gender dysphoria with be banned indefinitely in the UK because of an apparent “unacceptable safety risk”. This is despite an independent review into puberty blocker in Australia finding that they are generally safe to be used by transgender youngsters and the effects can be reversed.

The ban has been criticised by trans folks and allies, as well as a number of health organisations and medical professionals.

Following his speech at the conference, the Streeting was asked about reducing waiting times for transgender people.

He said the decision ban on puberty blockers for trans youth was “solely about the clinical advice” he had been provided.

“I did what I think any health secretary should do when they are confronted with that sort of choice, which is to seek the advice of clinicians and to ask clinical experts and leaders what we should do in that case,” he said, as quoted by the Press Association.

“I am very conscious that for lots of people, not just in the trans community, but across the LGBT community – in fact, across wide society – there is real anxiety about the decision that I took.

“I would challenge anyone in my shoes to say, as a politician, that you would overrule clinical advice, especially when it comes to medicines that are challenged on the basis of whether they are safe or not for children.

“I know people disagree with that decision. I know it’s caused real fear and anxiety in our community, and that certainly doesn’t sit easy with me.”

Streeting went on to say that planned clinical trials about puberty blocker use by trans youngsters will build evidence and “take the political poison out of what should always be a considered compassionate and evidence based conversation about how we provide care and support to a vulnerable group of children and young people in our society and trans adults”.

He added he understood why people feel “fear and anxiety” and is “genuinely sorry about that”.

“And I have met many, not just trans organisations, but families and children and young people who strongly disagree with this decision and are fearful as a result of those decisions,” he said.

“And that that breaks my heart, it genuinely does.”

Streeting concluded his answer by affirming that the Labour government plans to cut waiting times for trans people and improve access to the services they need, as well as cracking down on transphobic hate crime and introducing “new laws and protections, including a ban on conversion therapy and a trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy”.

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