Angela Rayner calls Tory leadership candidate’s views ‘illegal, immoral and dangerous’
Labour has accused the Conservative leadership hopeful Esther McVey of being unfit to be an MP after she repeated her view that parents should be allowed to take primary-aged children out of lessons on same-sex relationships.
Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, said McVey’s arguments in favour of letting parents take young children out of LGBT education were “illegal, immoral and deeply dangerous”.
Potential PM says ‘final say’ on children learning about same-sex relationships is for parents
Tory leadership hopeful Esther McVey has come under fire from within her own party after she said it should be up to parents if they want to withdraw their primary-age children from lessons on same-sex relationships.
The remarks by McVey, a former work and pensions secretary, sparked a backlash from equality campaigners and one of her own colleagues, Justine Greening, who was the first openly gay female cabinet minister.
Related: Fear of LGBT-inclusive lessons harks back to 80s, says Peter Tatchell
Introduced by the Thatcher government, Section 28 of the Local Government Act stated that a local authority shall not ‘intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality’ or ‘promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’.
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