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Nishtha Anushree
Oct 05, 2023, 10:41 AM | Updated 10:41 AM IST
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's perspective on gender has once again sparked debate. During his address at the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday (4 October), Sunak expressed his belief that the public is being 'bullied' into accepting that "people can be any sex they want to be."
In his inaugural speech at the conference, Sunak asserted, “And we shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can't. A man is a man, a woman is a woman, that’s just common sense.”
He further emphasised, “It also shouldn't be controversial for parents to know what their children are learning in school about relationships. Patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women." Sunak's remarks were met with enthusiastic cheers and applause from the audience.
Sunak added, "We should also be never afraid to talk about a thing that matters most to most of us, family. Whenever we talk about family, we are accused of promoting one size fits all. But we know, what matters is the love cascade down generations."
The British Prime Minister declared his team's commitment to "change this country," emphasizing that "life means life," a position he believes the majority of hard-working people support.
In addition to his views on gender, Sunak proposed a phased increase in the legal age to purchase cigarettes in England by one year annually, with the ultimate goal of eliminating smoking.
He stated that the age limit should progressively rise until smoking becomes illegal for the entire population, expressing his intent to “stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in first place."
Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.