A bungled LGBTQ+ conference that the government was forced to cancel may cost more than half a million pounds, it was revealed today.
The UK’s first-ever international LGBTQ+ conference was canned after more than 100 organisations pulled out in a row over conversion therapy.
The “Safe To Be Me” event was scheduled to take place in London in June to promote LGBTQ+ rights within the UK and globally.
However, charities and groups boycotted the event when the government excluded transgender people from their ban on conversion therapy.
The controversy even sparked fury from some Tory MPs who called on the government to “have some empathy”.
Conversion therapy is an attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity and can involve methods such as aversive stimulation or religious counselling.
Now equalities minister Mike Freer has revealed the government predicts it will cost between £410,000 to £610,000.
Answering a question from Labour’s Anneliese Dodds, he said: “We announced our decision to cancel Safe To Be Me: A Global Equality Conference on 6 April 2022. Expenditure to that point, and due to the cancellation, is estimated to be between £0.41 million and £0.61 million.
“We are engaging our suppliers to determine whether any costs can be recovered for work that had not yet been undertaken. We are also exploring whether any commitments made could be deferred to support future government events.”
A source stressed that part of the cost related to a deposit on a venue and that the government was looking at whether it could be used for a separate event or if any of the deposit was recoverable. They said that could mean the costs incurred would end up being less.
Dodds, the shadow women and equalities secretary, told HuffPost UK: “While millions of British people are struggling with the cost of living crisis, the government has frittered away at least half a million pounds on an international LGBT conference that collapsed because of their own failure to stand up for LGBT+ rights.
“Ministers must now set out exactly how much public money has been flushed down the drain because of this debacle and what steps they are going to take to repair trust with the LGBT+ community.”
The huge row over conversion therapy also saw the government’s first LGBTQ+ business champion resign.
The unpaid role was created especially in the lead-up to the conference, and was expected to last at least 18 months.
But Iain Anderson resigned, criticising the “deeply damaging” move to exclude trans people from protection against conversion therapy.
Boris Johnson previously described gay conversion therapy as “utterly abhorrent” but claimed there were “complexities and sensitivities” when “you move from the area of sexuality to the question of gender”.
HuffPost UK has contacted the government for comment.