Britain proposes tough new law to ban abusive conversion practices

Britain published draft legislation on Thursday to criminalise abusive conversion practices aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or transgender identity, setting up one of the sharpest legal tests yet over how far the state can go without catching ordinary counselling, healthcare or religious speech.

The draft Conversion Practices Bill applies to England and Wales and would make it a criminal offence to use abusive acts that seriously harm the victim in an attempt to change identity or orientation. Offenders could face an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison. Ministers also want the law to cover people who encourage or assist conversion practices carried out outside England and Wales, closing a loophole campaigners say has allowed harmful conduct to be pushed beyond the reach of domestic law.

The government says the bill is meant to protect LGBT+ people from physical and psychological harm while still preserving legitimate healthcare and therapy. That distinction will sit at the centre of the parliamentary fight. The draft is designed to draw a line between coercive, degrading or violent conduct and lawful medical or mental-health treatment, but it will now face scrutiny over where that line should be set and whether the language is tight enough to avoid chilling lawful advice, prayer, family intervention or professional counselling.

Ministers say existing laws on domestic abuse, coercive control and communications offences do not properly capture conversion practices as a distinct form of harm. The government says those practices are still happening in 2026 and can include physical, sexual, economic and psychological abuse. The bill would also create civil Conversion Practice Protection Orders, modelled on the orders used in forced marriage and female genital mutilation cases, giving courts a preventive tool before harm escalates.

The legislation has a long political backstory. Theresa May first announced a conversion therapy ban in 2018. The government’s consultation ran from 29 October 2021 to 4 February 2022, and both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak later promised action without delivering a law. Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged a full trans-inclusive ban, and the policy was included in the 2026 King’s Speech, but the government had already missed its own timetable to publish a draft before prorogation.

Advocacy groups are pushing for different boundaries as Parliament prepares to examine definitions, evidence thresholds and exemptions. Stonewall has said the UK-wide LGBT Survey found 7% of LGBT+ people had been offered or undergone conversion therapy. Humanists UK welcomed the draft as a historic step, while arguing that any ban should cover both sexual orientation and gender identity without loopholes for religion or claimed consent. The coming scrutiny will decide whether the bill becomes a tightly drawn criminal safeguard or a new flashpoint over speech, faith and parental authority.