Demonstrators outside the Department of Health and Social Care protest against the planned clinical trial to assess the risks and benefits of puberty blockers in gender questioning children, London, December 2025 (Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Live News) 13 min read25 min Amid the persistent will-he-won’t-he speculation over Wes Streeting’s leadership ambitions, Tom Scotson and Sienna Rodgers talk to the Labour MPs applying pressure on the Health Secretary over the divisive puberty blockers trial When Wes Streeting banned the sale and supply of puberty blockers for gender-questioning under-18s indefinitely in the first months of the Labour government, a significant cohort of his colleagues were not happy. Furious messages were exchanged in the LGBT+ Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) WhatsApp group, as MPs who consider themselves trans allies hoped their new Health Secretary – who is gay and a former Stonewall campaigner – would be on their side. To justify his position, Streeting simply pointed to the landmark Cass review into gender identity services: Hilary, now Baroness, Cass had raised safety concerns around the lack of …