'Standing up for the rights of vulnerable children.'

MS for North Wales

Last week in the Welsh Parliament, we debated the findings of the Cass Review.

That’s a report on NHS practices and provision around young people who are “questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria.”

It is a hugely significant report. There has been much debate on transgender issues over the years, but this is the most thorough piece of work done on the topic.

Why is it so important? Until recently, children from around the UK were being sent to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) ,also known as the Tavistock, in London,

That includes hundreds of Welsh children over the years – as one example, in 2021/22 alone this number was over 150. That made it highly relevant as the topic of a Senedd debate.

What happened to the children there? Well, a court case revealed that record-keeping at the Tavistock was poor and that lots of information simply wasn’t recorded – but we do know that lots of children were given puberty blockers, a radically life-changing and serious medical intervention.

The Cass Review found that the evidence to support the use of puberty blockers was ‘remarkably weak’, and that not enough is known about the longer term impacts of puberty blockers for children and young people to know whether they are safe or not.

In short, those children the victims of medical experimentation. The adults in the room had no idea about what impact those puberty blockers had, and they didn’t care - they happily carried on giving those blockers to vulnerable children. It is utterly abhorrent.

I wouldn’t want my children sent into an environment like that with such uncertainty and experimentation, and it is impossible to justify for other children in Wales.

The Cass Review was backed up by the University of York’s systematic, independent research programme. It is high-quality, detailed research which has provided us with facts and evidence. We should always be following the science on these topics.

In the Welsh Parliament, it is only the Welsh Conservatives who support the implementation of the recommendations of the Cass Review and standing up for the rights of vulnerable children.

Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats, who are all captured by people with extreme views, couldn’t bring themselves to support our motion. That tells you all you need to know.

If you have any queries or issues you’d like to raise with me, then you can get in touch by emailing sam.rowlands@senedd.wales