Wes Streeting office vandalised with windows smashed

The National

5 days ago

A trans rights group – who call themselves Bash Back – has taken credit and shared a series of images to social media site BlueSky this afternoon which show the front of the Health Secretary's office.
Spraypainted on one window are the words "child killer" while several other windows appear to also be smashed.
The post (below) reads: 'We refuse to sit and watch as trans young people have their healthcare stripped from them. We refuse to allow Streeting to cover up their suicides. We refuse to endure the violence and humiliation. They will have to go through us.'
Our statement on the actions at Wes Streeting's office last night. We refuse to sit and watch as trans young people have their healthcare stripped from them. We refuse to allow Streeting to cover up their suicides. We refuse to endure the violence and humiliation. They will have to go through us.
[image or embed] — BASH BACK (@bashback.bsky.social) 1 August 2025 at 13:39
A statement was also released which said it was in response to his "continued abuse of trans people in the medical system, and attempts to cover up the suicides of trans young people under his watch as Health Secretary".
Streeting, meanwhile, condemned the vandalism and said it was "unfair" to his staff and an "attack on democracy".
The NHS announced in March last year that children would no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics.
In May, following the publication of the Cass Review, the Conservative government introduced a ban with emergency legislation, preventing the prescription of the medication from European or private prescribers and restricting NHS provision to within clinical trials.
The move was then made indefinite in December under the new Labour Government – with Streeting as Health Secretary.
He said in April this year that he is 'genuinely sorry' for the 'fear and anxiety' felt by the transgender community following the ban.
But he added: 'I would challenge anyone in my shoes to say, as a politician, that you would overrule clinical advice, especially when it comes to medicines that are challenged on the basis of whether they are safe or not for children.
'I know people disagree with that decision. I know it's caused real fear and anxiety in our community, and that certainly doesn't sit easy with me.'
Commenting on the vandalism, Streeting said: "From day one as Ilford North's MP I've had an accessible and visible constituency office to serve my local community.
"Repeated criminal damage is unfair to my staff and an attack on democracy.I will not be commenting further while there is a live police investigation."
The Met Police have been approached for comment.
The full statement from Bash Back reads: "On July 31st, a group of activists representing BASH BACK took action against Wes Streeting's office in Ilford, in response to his continued abuse of trans people in the medical system, and attempts to cover up the suicides of trans young people under his watch as Health Secretary.
"In the months since the puberty blockers ban, we have seen huge backpedals in the healthcare rights afforded to trans people and young people especially - in an NHS system that was never kind to us in the first place.
"Under Streeting's rule, GPs have been banned from conducting blood tests on trans patients accessing HRT, and trans people have been banned from accessing hospital wards that fit their gender, leading necessarily to poorer quality of care across the board.
"Streeting, along with NHS England, the EHRC, and Hilary Cass, have paved the way for state-mandated conversion therapy, which has since led to the Department for Education's proposed introduction of a Section 28 style bill, preventing discussion of transness in the classroom.
"It is clear now that Wes Streeting and the Labour government intend to erase trans people from public life, and will go out of their way to do so, no matter how many bodies lay in their path."