CORNWALL’S Conservative group has slammed the Duchy’s two Liberal Democrat MPs for abstaining during a Westminster vote on the issue of puberty blockers for children.

During a Westminster Conservative Opposition Day debate on the highly divisive matter on Tuesday (June 23), Andrew George and Ben Maguire (MPs for St Ives and North Cornwall respectively) failed to record a vote on what the Tory group leader in Cornwall says is “one of the most significant child safeguarding issues before Parliament”. Cornwall’s four Labour MPs voted against the Conservative motion.

The Conservatives used the opposition day debate on puberty blockers for gender-questioning children to vote against government plans to restart the controversial trial for children as young as 11. The motion to halt the government-backed Pathways clinical trial was defeated by 283 votes to 112.

Cllr Connor Donnithorne, Conservative group leader at Cornwall Council and a father of two young children, said: “Andrew George and Ben Maguire know many people across Cornwall oppose the use of puberty blockers on children. Yet loud activist voices within their party continue to support them. Their failure to vote wasn’t about principle – it was about internal party management.

“While we fundamentally disagree with the position taken by Cornwall’s Labour MPs, at least they were prepared to tell voters where they stood. Andrew George and Ben Maguire weren’t. Why won’t they give Cornish families a straight answer?”

The Tory group will launch a petition, ‘Say no to puberty blockers for children in Cornwall’, before its councillors table a motion at Lys Kernow/County Hall on July 21 calling on Cornwall Council to oppose the use of puberty blockers for children in the county.

“If Cornwall’s Liberal Democrat MPs won’t give the public an answer, the public should have the chance to give theirs,” said Cllr Donnithorne. “We want residents from every corner of Cornwall to make their voices heard and demonstrate the strength of public feeling on this issue.

Andrew George and Ben Maguire were contacted for comment.