07/10/2024
Pink News reports that eyebrows have been raised as centre left gay MP Wes Streeting has been appointed Secretary of State for Health in the new cabinet of Sir Keir Starmer's incoming Labour government. He is a former campaigner with Stonewall and was elected in 2015. However, Streeting has made various remarks about transgender women on hospital wards including appearing to suggest that they should be accommodated away from single sex wards. In the weeks and months leading up to the general election, Streeting also faced criticism from the LGBTQ+ community for suggesting that he regrets once saying that “trans women are women, trans men are men… get over it”. But the most controversial part of Streeting's agenda might be that which was highlighted by commentator RT, who pointed out "Not only is Wes Streeting planning to bar trans women from women-only hospital wards (but oddly, not trans men from men-only wards), far more importantly he intends to accelerate the ongoing privatisation of our health service. Trans people of all ages will find ourselves with waiting times for gender-affirming healthcare longer than we are likely to live; or we can boost the already-enormous profits of healthcare corporations by going private, if we have the money. And that goes for every NHS patient, no matter how desperate their medical situation."
