Today is the last day of a consultation on changes to an obscure law which appears to directly affect only a tiny minority. This may seem a strange basis for a bitter and generation-defining political fight.

At issue are plans to overhaul the manner in which transgender people can officially change their gender. To be transgender is to identify as a gender which does not match your sex assigned at birth. In crude terms, this will usually mean people born with penises who consider themselves women, or born with vaginas who consider themselves men. Since 2004 people have been allowed to change their official gender, ultimately leading to a new birth certificate.

Two years ago the Commons equalities select committee, then chaired by Maria Miller,