A transgender charity that campaigns for children to be given prohibited sex-change treatment has been awarded £500,000 by the national lottery.

The payment to Mermaids has angered MPs, feminists and women’s organisations, who accuse the charity of bullying doctors, promoting falsehoods and using “emotional blackmail” to pressure parents to support life-changing medical interventions for their children.

Mermaids will use the money to create a network of 45 groups nationwide.

David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, called for the grant, which has been approved but not yet paid, to be halted pending an investigation.

“I am absolutely horrified that the Big Lottery Fund are handing out a fortune to this aggressive organisation,” he said. “What they are doing is utterly wrong.”

The chief executive of