DUP's stance forced Mike Nesbitt to 'confront reality and ultimately change course' on puberty blockers - Robinson
The DUP leader has hit out at the Ulster Unionist Party – claiming that it was his party’s stance on the puberty blockers issue which forced Mike Nesbitt to “confront reality and ultimately change course”.
Gavin Robinson’s comments come after a major policy shift by the health minister last week over a UK-wide trial of hormone drugs for children questioning their gender. The trial was supported by Alliance and Sinn Fein ministers in the Executive, and opposed by the DUP.
Last week a review of Northern Ireland’s gender services revealed that the health service was aiming to put in place “rigorous and demanding” changes to meet Mr Nesbitt’s own commitment to be part of the trial.
The UUP backed their minister on Thursday, saying he faced a choice between “a very, very small number of local people participating in the UK trial”, or Mike Nesbitt being unable to secure an indefinite ban on prescription of the drugs in 2024.
On Friday, the health minister announced Northern Ireland’s participation was halted until a judicial review on the matter concludes.
In a speech to party members in Craigavon on Thursday night, a copy of which was sent to the News Letter in advance, the DUP leader took credit for the “U-turn” by Mr Nesbitt.
“Only last week, it was the DUP that raised objections to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s decision to involve children from Northern Ireland in puberty blocker trials. We did so not out of prejudice, but out of principle.
“Safeguarding children is not intolerance. It is common sense. Medical interventions with lifelong consequences demand the highest evidential threshold. When others pressed ahead with pursuing this experimentation, we did not.
“We were clear. We were consistent. And we were right. Our stance forced the Ulster Unionist Party to confront reality and ultimately change course”, he said.
The UUP has previously accused the DUP of being engaged in “total revisionism” over child transgender services – but former DUP health minister Edwin Poots said he had “no role whatsoever in the establishment of a Gender Identity Clinic, nor was I informed of its establishment”.