Member

I will give just one example. In June 2021, Dave McConnell, a Christian street preacher, was preaching in Leeds city centre when he was heckled by a trans woman whom he insisted on referring to as a man. He was arrested under Section 4A of the Public Order Act—one of the offences the new aggravators would apply to—and convicted by a magistrates’ court. He was ordered to complete 80 hours of community service and pay £620 in costs, and was referred to Prevent—for referring to a man as a man. Admittedly, his conviction was overturned on appeal at Leeds Crown Court, but the process is the punishment. This is not a hypothetical scenario. This is how the system operates at present. How much worse is it likely to get if the Government add hostility to transgender identity as an aggravator to the charging framework?