Wes Streeting (Labour Shadow Health Secretary) pledges "support for the Cass Review’s evidence-led recommendations and our determination to put children’s health and wellbeing above the political fray"

[LogicLoverLlama]

twitter - https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/1777835770184634751

Is this what we need to vote Labour? I was genuinely going to rip up my "never kissed a tory" badge

After years of being told that nobody is concerned or talking about it , it is definitely an issue which is being talked about. At last, thank goodness.

Here’s Wes on video claiming to be 'taking it on the chin' and saying he got some of it wrong. Also saying he disagrees with some of Stonewall’s messaging and no longer thinks TWAW automatically and literally 🤔

He asks why were clinicians frightened to come forward but doesn’t say it’s because people like him created the frightening public atmosphere.

He mentions Hannah Barnes' book so maybe has been doing some reading. Who knows…

Relevant section starts at 11 mins in.

That's something. His role in the hidden Facebook groups to keep/kick out women who were raising concerns out of Labour still remains though. It's fundamentally undemocratic and he very much was a key figure in the early stages of creating fear of speaking out. This could have all gone differently if Labour hadn't actively targeted women for 'wrongthink' and instead simply considered these women had a lot to lose by speaking out. If there wasn't an issue why speak out?

How is Lily Madigan doing these days?

This is quite good but at the end of the segment he does say trans people are on the wrong side of the stats on hate crime, suicide and mental health. That rather undermines the rest of what he said because hate crime can mean myriad of things as we know, and women can't report hate on the basis of sex. If they could, the police would never deal with anything else.

The suicide point he is making, is alarming. He really really needs to take care not to give this line again. The mental health point next to it...well Cass showed MH isn't being explored fully. Come on Wes. You're so close!

What time are you coming over to change the bedding that I just spluttered my morning coffee over?

Given that Labour are odds-on to form the next government I am pleased to see this statement, However I am not feeling that 'Phew, now I can vote Labour again' sentiment. My faith and goodwill are gone. And the people who cheered this on, plus the mindset that enabled this to take root in the party in the first place are all, as far as I know, still very much in place.

Politico London Playbook, the morning read of senior civil servants and other Whitehall insiders has covered Cass. While it has retreated from its earlier ‘let’s phrase it so it’s clear we’re making fun of those old-fashioned right wing bigots’ stance, it’s very much in the ‘toxic on both sides’ space and (from memory of yesterday’s edition) still talking about ‘trans kids’.

It does have a good summary of the Labour position:

LABOUR LAND
CASS FLOW: The review into gender services for young people is also having ramifications in Labour, as Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting riles some on the left for accepting its findings but continues to be met with mistrust from the gender critical.
Once in a red moon: Streeting last night performed one of the lesser-seen maneuvers in British politics — and admitted having been completely wrong. He told the Sun’s “Never Mind the Ballots” show that he “takes criticism on the chin” for having argued that people should “get over” their concerns about trans issues. “Now I sort of sit and reflect and think actually, there are lots of complexities,” he said, as he praised Cass’ “careful and sensitive” research.
But not all agree … Jeremy Corbyn’s pals at Momentum said the review “ignored dozens of scientific studies,” while* *Nadia Whittome, an MP on the Labour left, said she was aware of “concerns” about the review’s methodology and therefore the basis upon which its 32 recommendations were made. Meanwhile her colleague Rosie Duffield, who says she’s been exonerated of transphobia allegations after a party investigation, criticized “male leaders” who now “take applause, praise and credit for simply listening to an expert.”

No it is not anywhere near enough.

Starmer has to admit to everyone that he knows women do not have penises. Until then, until he recognised my sex, it is no vote from me.

politics is a game of compromises you know....

I read somewhere the other day that polling is showing the biggest demographic likely turning to Labour in the next election are the slightly right of centre voters.

I imagine most of these voters (knowing nothing about past witch hunting facebook groups) will find Wes Streeting to be a very sensible chap on this.

He is at least smart enough to know the direction the wind is blowing and how to pitch himself, I will give him that.

Has starmer said anything about the Cass report yet (I may have missed it with so much coverage yesterday)

I understand Streeting speaking as shadow health secretary but I also need to know starmers view because as party leader he will set the direction.

Quite. However so far he’s shown himself to be a bit spineless. Has he got it in him to admit he was wrong, no. He’ll say something like thanks for the evidence from the Cass report. We will commit to making sure children aren’t hurt in future. Or something like that. Which is great. But he needs to support women's and children’s rights by admitting that women don’t have penises and need sex specific safe spaces.
Still I could be wrong. He might yet surprise us all.

Cynically I feel Streeting is actually speaking as someone with half an eye on the bosses job!

Can we stop crediting any Secretaries of State for Health for ‘commissioning’ the Cass report?

Doing that really inappropriately sites Cass report in a political and governmental realm that it isn’t in. Claiming it was commissioned by government allows a blurring to take place that’s very unhelpful when huge unanswered questions remain for government about system failures allowing this mistreatment of kids, which are as yet unexplored. Which is why we need a public inquiry to stop this happening again.

Plus the great strength of the final Cass report, is its medical voice, its independence which has allowed the team to speak to wide ranging sources and its very clear focus on evidence.

Yes, individual Health Secs may have been supportive of the Case review happening and that is great. And so they absolutely should have been… given the hair raising concerns being flagged up to them for years by whistleblowers and many others about what GIDS was doing.

Javid in particular, tried to make outcomes data available to researchers although it sounds like there was resistance from adult services to actually supplying that. I would have to dig further on that to understand the ins and outs of it. Supplying data of that kind would have plugged some of the already very well-known and very concerning gaps in data, which are still being highlighted by Cass in 2024. So in that Javid’s aim at least seems coming from a good evidence-based place. Credit where due. However this was after the Bell case publicity put this issue on the political map very firmly (thank you again Keira Bell)

My understanding is that while Cass is/was very much needed due to huge concerns being raised, the Cass report actually came out of 2016’s NHS England service specification for gender identity development services for children and young people. That had committed to conducting a review of this specification and associated policies for 2020.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/01/update-on-gender-identity-development-service-for-children-and-young-people/

So while Secretaries of State for health may obviously talk to the Chair or members of the Board of NHS England who actually commissioned this report), I don’t think its helpful to congratulate Matt Hancock for suddenly diving in to help during the pandemic or Sajid Javid for doing any more than he did do to support the Cass review, which was already well underway on his watch.

I think you are absolutely right.

But speaking as someone who doesn't particularly trust streeting it took some balls to come out and say 'I was wrong' I sort of admire that, because its so unusual for a politician to admit they were wrong and admit to their part in silencing people. He knew he would get torn apart on trans twitter/reddit, but did it anyway.

Will it make me skip to the polling station full of glee to vote Labour, no, but its a start and it will force a conversion for Labour.

its a start and it will force a conversion for Labour

Hope it does! Labour conversion back to sex based reality is well overdue. I think Streeting is making a good start.

I think you're dreaming if you think the NHS suddenly got off its arse on this. They didn't. Of course there were behind the scenes discussions to make them do it. Of course none of that will make the light of day but don't labour under the misapprehension that the bosses suddenly saw the light.

The technical point is that because oversight is severed, the actual commission would have to have come from within the service. This links to a key and much wider point about scrutiny and levers. Unlike in other parts of the public sector, those commissions of inspections and reviews can't happen due to political oversight. See the response after the tragic murder of Sarah Everard - the politicians commissioned an inquiry.

What a freudian slip typo from me!

I meant conversation, but conversion works as well

When someone admits they were wrong that should be welcomed. It's very unusual for a politician and more to be welcomed for that reason.

When Starmer publicly apologises to Rosie Duffield it'll be time to consider voting Labour Again.

Will someone now PLEASE ask all the politicians what about guidance for schools? I want to see Labour's take on that in the light of CASS. I also want to know if there is reverse ferreting by Lib Dems and Greens.

Labour stoked ‘culture of intimidation’ over trans issues, health secretary says

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/201e3ecb-9e56-4bc6-9f1a-4c10c4e0f6d1?shareToken=53349257e8665ada6a13cf6e7941c641

I cannot stand the “culture wars” response from Labour

We’ve been clear on harms and had that idiocy used against us - for highlighting them as Cass review now does

I find the gaslighting revolting. Although even muddled and behind Labour may have to shift now tf

Thanks to all those who didn’t give up against abuse etc

I have written to streeting to say thank you, hope that Labour can reflect on this more widely (conversion therapy, dismissal of women), trying to be positive and constructive. He is being given a hard time on X, so I think it is helpful for him to get some more positive views too, as I do think he has been bold, even if not enough

(I did call the culture wars response from some pathetic though!)

Culture wars, my arse. Who expelled and persecuted and smeared who?

That said, I do feel mildly sorry for Streeting, in that he's catching a fair bit of flak as one who's actually apologised. As opposed to, say, complete wastes of oxygen like Nandy, Rayner, Whittome, Thornberry, Lloyd-Moyle, Bradshaw... who still appear to be committed to the 'useful idiot' role.

Lloyd-Moyle is the odd one out for me. FWIW, he's a Corbynite, so not one of Starmer's tribe, so he could plausibly slap him down. But he chose not to do so. Whittome is just an idiot, but the others are all part of the inner circle.