Labour accuses Theresa May of ‘empty PR’ over LGBT action pledge

Labour has attacked Theresa May over a pledge to bring forward an “LGBT action plan" this summer - branding it "empty PR".



The Prime Minister announced today that the Government would set out “concrete steps” to “improve lives for LGBT people in this country and address some of the injustices the community has faced”.

However Labour said the Government only ever seemed to “make announcements about future announcements”.

Mrs May said the move would reflect the findings of a survey on LGBT people in Britain held last year, with the results to be published soon.

“The response was phenomenal with over 100,000 people replying, making it the largest survey of LGBT people anywhere in the world,” she wrote in the Gay Times.

“One answer that stood out to me was how many LGBT people said they avoided being open about their sexual orientation or gender identity in public, or with their own family and friends.

“I want to help make us a country where no one feels the need to hide who they are or who they love…

“That is why we will also publish an LGBT Action Plan this summer.

“It will set out concrete steps the Government will take to improve lives for LGBT people in this country and address some of the injustices the community has faced."

She also pledged to publish a public consultation on how best to reform the gender recognition process.

But Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler blasted: “Theresa May announced a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act last August, but nearly a year later it hasn’t even started...

“We need to see deeds, not just words, from the Conservatives.”

She added: “Today marks 30 years since Thatcher’s Government introduced the cruel Section 28, a grim moment in our country’s history, which was defended by Theresa May...

“It was repealed by the last Labour Government in 2003, a Government which did more than any other in British history to advance LGBT+ equality.”

Writing for Pink News last year, Mrs May said she was proud of the Conservatives’ role in cracking down on discrimination on the basis of sexuality or gender and accepted that both she and the party “have been wrong on these issues in the past.”