Kemi Badenoch attacks Labour's 'student union government' as Tory leader brands conversion therapy ban 'unworkable' and a 'waste of time'

Kemi Badenoch has branded Labour's attempt to ban conversion therapy 'unworkable' and a 'waste of time' while questions have been raised over why supportive MPs have been chosen to scrutinise it.The Tory leader warned that the legislation – intended to protect gay and transgender people from attempts to change their sexuality or gender identity – would lead to parents being arrested for looking after their children.She said she had looked at the bill when she was Equalities Minister in the last Conservative government and said it was unnecessary, since laws are already in place to prevent abuse or discrimination against vulnerable people.Her comments came after a major report co-written by Britain's former equalities watchdog Baroness Falkner said the new law could lead to children being prosecuted as well as parents, and would even make it illegal to tell someone who identifies as a cat that they are human.The Policy Exchange study said that parents could be jailed for up to five years if they try to dissuade their children from transitioning, refuse to pay for their gender surgery or even fail to call them by their preferred names and pronouns.It pointed out that there is neither a threshold for abusiveness in the bill nor a defence of reasonableness, so that commonplace family interactions could be deemed ‘psychological or emotional pressure’.Speaking on board HMS Wellington for a defence rally on Tuesday, Mrs Badenoch said: 'This Labour Government is a student union Government. All of the silly ideas which they've wasted time on is what they're bringing in. They don't know how to make anyone's lives better. This is something that's going to mean that parents start getting arrested for parenting their children.'She added: 'I looked at this bill when we were in government. It is unworkable. We want to make sure that we protect people who are vulnerable and make sure that people are not discriminated on the basis of their sexuality. The laws are already in place. The laws are already in place.'The reason why it's a waste of time is in yet another pretend bit of legislation that's going to confuse and complicate and mean that we lose common sense, people are afraid to speak to their children and tell the truth, and that's why we don't support what Labour is doing.'Downing Street insisted the draft legislation 'doesn't touch regular parenting', and would not 'prevent open, exploratory or challenging conversations between young people, or with parents, teachers, clinicians, or pastoral leaders'. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch at a defence rally on board HMS Wellington in LondonBut the Prime Minister's spokesman refused to rule out some parents being caught by the clampdown, telling reporters: 'LGBT+ people should never, without exception, have to suffer coercion or abuse in an effort to change who they are.'Successive governments have agreed for almost a decade that conversion practices have no place in modern Britain. This Government is finally delivering on that promise.'Meanwhile questions have been raised about the make-up of the joint committee set up to 'consider and report on' the Government's draft Conversion Practices Bill.Its chairman is Labour MP Alex Barros-Curtis, who told the minister behind the bill that she 'should be really proud of what she has achieved'.He added: 'We should get this law on to the statute book as quickly as possible.'Before becoming an MP in 2024 he served as Labour's Executive Director of Legal Affairs and was accused of overseeing investigations into party members who opposed gender ideology.Another member of the committee is Olivia Bailey, who drafted the bill as a junior Equalities Minister in Sir Keir Starmer's government and who now chairs the Women and Equalities Committee.A third Labour MP on the committee, Danny Beales, thanked her in the Commons for 'her hard, relentless and committed work in delivering this comprehensive and inclusive draft Bill'.Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who said Mr Barros-Curtis spent more than a year investigating her over a single 'like' of a social media post, told the Daily Mail: 'I find it amazing that a former senior Labour Party barrister, whose role it was to oversee and decide on the investigations of Labour members, mostly women with legally protected gender critical beliefs, should be chairing this committee which is about the same set of contested beliefs that this Bill is about.'The new Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee is the former minister who drafted the Bill, and by also serving as a member on it, she is essentially marking her own homework.'A spokesman for the bill committee said: 'In line with standard practice for joint pre-legislative committees, the Members are appointed by both Houses to conduct detailed scrutiny of the Draft Bill in question.'The Committee includes Members with a range of views who will collectively scrutinise the Draft Conversion Practices Bill in a balanced way, and propose amendments where appropriate to ensure that any legislation which subsequently comes before Parliament is in the best state possible.'