Conversion therapy bill is 'badly drafted'

The Westminster Government first pledged to criminalise so-called "conversion therapy" in 2018 under Theresa May.

It was a knee-jerk response to activists making unverified claims of grim abuses they alleged were taking place in churches. But the Conservatives came to realise that the evidence base didn’t stack up. They also couldn’t legally define the bogeyman conjured up by activists.

It became clear that existing law was perfectly adequate to protect people from real verbal and physical abuse. And lawyers advised them repeatedly that giving campaigners what they wanted would mean trampling all over free speech and religious liberty.