Morgan Page, a former cabaret artist, works for the pressure group Stonewall. She says anti-trans sentiment is inflamed by ‘conservatives dressed up as feminists’

The national lottery was last night accused of breaking its ban on political funding after giving a large grant to a second controversial transgender lobbying group.

The Big Lottery Fund (BLF) will pay £494,000 to “empower trans leaders and organisations” in “facilitation, media and influencing”. The money is being handed to the advocacy group Stonewall for distribution to other activists, creating a “network of leaders” to lobby for change. Stonewall was central to the campaign for contentious changes to gender laws.

Last week The Sunday Times revealed the lottery had awarded £500,000 to the trans advocacy group Mermaids, which campaigns for children to be allowed prohibited sex-change hormones. More large sums to trans lobbyists are thought to be in the pipeline.

The award to Mermaids,