SUELLA Braverman has accused ministers of “betraying children” with plans to let kids as young as four swap genders at school.
The government’s new guidance for teachers would let primary school kids “socially transition” by swapping pronouns and uniforms in “rare” cases.
She said: “No child should be able to transition socially, medically or otherwise. No ifs no buts. There are no exceptions here.”
Mrs Braverman – the Reform Party’s schools and equalities chief – said the policy is a “disgrace and actively harmful towards our children”.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson unveiled long-awaited trans guidance for schools last week.
It says teachers should inform parents if their child wants to socially transition – but mums and dads should be kept in the dark if there are “safeguarding concerns”.
Mrs Braverman said: “This Labour government’s guidance amounts to a betrayal of children.
“Many of these children – if they are experiencing gender dysphoria – require a mental health intervention not a surgical intervention.
“Children are experimenting, they are thinking out loud. They don’t really know what their identity is. They are still in the stages of development.
“For the authorities – whether it’s the NHS, schools or counsellors – to intervene in very radical, irreversible, life-changing ways is a disgrace.”
Sitting down with The Sun on Sunday for her first big interview since being unveiled as part of Nigel Farage’s shadow Cabinet, Mrs Braverman also:
:: Blasted the Equality Act as “anti white and anti male” and vowed to axe it
:: Warned too many universities are “selling immigration not education”
:: Called for the Burka to be banned in classrooms and all public places
:: Said her final days in the Tories felt like being stuck in a house fire where no one heeded her screams
Mrs Braverman is a former Tory Home Secretary who defected to Reform UK in January.
She is now part of Nigel Farage’s revamped frontbench team – and is determined to wage a war on woke policies she says have left Britain battered and divided.
If Reform UK wins the next election they will tear up the Equality Act on “day one”, she said.
New laws will be brought in to protect people from genuine discrimination based on their sex, race or disabilities.
But Mrs Braverman said the current law ended up promoting anti white and anti male policies.
She pointed to a recent example of the Sentencing Council suggesting ethnic minority criminals should get softer sentences as an example of the barmy consequences of the Act.
“That to me is not equality”, Mrs Braverman blasted. “That to me is anti white, anti male prejudice which has been sanctioned and legitimised by this Act.
“Britain is not a racist country. We’re not a sexist country. The Equality Act has actually created division.”
Talking of division, Mrs Braverman said burkas and niqabs are a bar to integration.
She said: “I think the burka should be banned in public places.”
On education, she said too many Brits are ending up at duff universities taking “mickey mouse courses”.
This leaves them drowning in student debt – the average graduate has clocked up over £50,000 of debt – and without the skills needed to get a good job and earn good money, she warned.
Reform UK is setting a target for half of young people to go into the trades instead of university.
“These are not second class jobs”, Mrs Braverman said. “And AI wont replace carpenters and wont replace plumbers.”
Too many universities are hooked on foreign students and sell “immigration rather than education”, she warned. Adding: “That needs to end.”
PM Sir Keir Starmer is mulling plans to impose a social media ban on under 16s.
But this is one policy intervention Suella is not convinced of.
“There are dangers posed by social media towards children, particularly young children. It’s addictive and can be dangerous”, she said.
“However a ban I’m not necessarily convinced that’s workable.”
Suella Braverman is one of the most high profile defectors from the Tories to Reform UK.
A Tory member since her teenage years, she served as a minister under Theresa May and Boris Johnson and rose to be Home Secretary under Rishi Sunak.
But in January she did what many had been expecting for months – and defected to Reform UK.
Sitting on her sofa in her family home in Fareham, Hants, Suella said it was probably the hardest political decision she had ever taken
But she had been feeling “politically homeless” for some time.
Recalling her final years in the Conservative Party, Mrs Braverman said: “I felt like I was someone in a house on fire, and I’m raising the alarm and telling everybody ‘guys the house is on fire – wake up!’
“And everyone wakes up and says ‘Suella shut up, stop being such an attention seeker!’
“The house burns down, and there are some people who survive and they say: ‘Suella – we are going to blame you for the fire’.”
She said the straw that broke the camel’s back and sealed her decision to leave came in January this year.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said anyone who wanted to defect to Reform should go ahead and do it.
But Mrs Braverman accused Tory HQ of carrying out “a witchhunt” and calling members in for questioning if they were suspected of fraternising with Reform UK.
“They were actually looking for potential traitors within the membership”, she said.
“Anyone who had a friend in Reform was going to be called in for questioning and an inquisition.
“It seemed like there was a paranoid witchhunt going on in the party.”
Reform UK are ahead in the polls, although they have dipped a bit in recent months.
But Suella dismisses the idea Reform will do a deal with the Tories at the next election, expected in 2029.
Letting out a squeal of horror at the prospect, she said: “It’s a flat no from me! I’m fed up with the Tory lies and broken promises.”
Reform UK hopes to give Labour a bloody nose by winning the Gorton and Denton byelection later this week. The contest is a fierce three-way scrap between Reform Labour and the Greens.
Does Suella think her new party can go all the way and win an outright majority at the next election?
“What you see is what you get with Nigel Farage and that’s what the British people have been crying out for”, she said.
“They are fed up with the legacy parties and see Reform as the last chance to save Britain. There is a lot of quiet Reform support out there.”
We may get a sense of how much support there is when the byelection result comes in on Thursday night.