DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Ministers pass the test on trans pupils

After seemingly endless wrangling, the Government has finally published its draft guidance for schools on dealing with children who say they are transgender.

Despite concerns that they would buckle to avoid the wrath of militant activists, ministers have thankfully shown themselves willing to confront the insidious trans ideology sweeping our classrooms.

An explosion in the number of pupils identifying as the opposite sex has left teachers and parents crying out for guidelines. They will breathe a sigh of relief at this attempt to defuse the madness.

The thorniest issue is whether a child should be allowed to ‘socially transition’ – change their name and pronoun or wear a different gender uniform. While there is no outright ban, schools are warned there should be a ‘presumption’ against it.

Beyond exceptional cases, staff must tell parents if their child claims to be trans. And schools must protect single-sex spaces, such as toilets and changing rooms.

After seemingly endless wrangling, the Government has finally published its draft guidance for schools on dealing with children who say they are transgender (Stock Image)

No one doubts this is a sensitive, complex issue, but the Government’s advice is eminently sensible. Anyone with their head screwed on right will welcome it.

It’s absolutely no surprise, then, that deranged trans extremists, woke teaching unions and Labour MPs have wasted no time shrieking their condemnation.

These cranks – who will not rest until anyone can identify as any gender – branded the guidance ‘hateful’. One of Sir Keir Starmer’s backbenchers even claimed it would ‘make trans kids feel unsafe’.

How preposterous. The authoritative Cass review into the treatment of trans children made clear that social transitioning is ‘not a neutral act’. By blindly affirming the trans identity of a child who feels they were born in the wrong body, teachers can place them on a dangerous path.

This can often propel confused pupils towards being prescribed puberty blockers and on to irreversible sex-change surgery – decisions some bitterly regret later.

One of Sir Keir Starmer’s backbenchers even claimed it would ‘make trans kids feel unsafe’

Some Conservatives worry that as the guidance is not legally binding, teachers will ignore it. The problem is, a ban on transitioning would likely flout Labour’s Equality Act. Tories may fume, but not once during 13 years in power have they tried to repeal or amend this baleful legislation.

But that is another argument. Now this guidance has been issued, it behoves the Department for Education, politicians and teachers to expend as much effort helping pupils learn to read, write and add up.

A bitter pill to swallow

With insufferable arrogance, the British Medical Association claims junior doctors are striking to ‘save the NHS’.

The implication is that by doing so, they are acting in the best interests of patients.

Poppycock. They are striking for hard cash. Altruism is a long way down the list – if on it at all. By embarking on nine more days of walkouts over Christmas and New Year, thousands of patients well enough to be discharged will be stuck in hospital.

The British Medical Association claims junior doctors are striking to ‘save the NHS’ (File Image)

Instead of recuperating at home, they will languish on wards while junior doctors pursue a 35 per cent pay increase. This is an absurd demand and, with UK finances in disrepair, completely unaffordable.

While they stand petulantly on picket lines, waiting lists get longer and thousands are denied treatment. Some will die.

With such apparently scant regard for their patients’ welfare, it is a mystery why they wanted to be medics at all.

A hearty pat on the back for the British Museum, which has signed a £50million deal with BP. Fearing the anger of eco-campaigners, pusillanimous cultural institutions increasingly treat oil firms as lepers. But the museum is right to buck this woke trend infecting the arts. The money will let it overhaul its collections. Now chairman George Osborne has shown he has lead in his pencil, might he scrap his daft plan to give Greece the Elgin Marbles?

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