Labour councillor quits, saying council is failing kids on trans issues

A Labour councillor has resigned this morning, saying the council is not doing enough to safeguard gender confused children.

Councillor Milla Gauge says she has been repeatedly told by colleagues she must not pursue “urgent and credible” concerns raised with her about council and school policies in relation to children questioning their gender.

This was the case even after a blistering report into failings at a local GP practice, WellBN, were published in June.

She says the council – which has statutory duty to oversee and scrutinise local health services – would not make any statement about the report as it had “no case to answer”.

She also says she has been prevented from raising concerns brought to her about adult single-sex services – specifically survivors of sexual violence.

And she says she has asked repeatedly if the council will be adhering to the new Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated Code of Practice, which comes into effect today – but has not received any assurance it will.

This will spark the eighth by-election since the last local elections, making Ms Gauge the eighth member elected as a Labour councillor to quit – and the third in her Queens Park ward.

Two more Labour councillors have left the party – Ty Galvin now sits as an independent and Bruno De Oliveira is now a member of the Greens.

Brighton and Hove News has asked the council and the Labour group to respond to her letter of resignation, which is posted in full below. The story will be updated if and when a response is received.

Milla Gauge’s statement

Today I have resigned as a councillor on Brighton and Hove City Council.

It has not been an easy decision. It comes after many months of reflection and many unsuccessful attempts to persuade the council to take what I believe are necessary steps to address residents’ reasonable concerns regarding safeguarding, lawful governance and democratic accountability.

Throughout my period in elected office, my career in the health service including my work on violence against women and girls, my time as a school governor, charity trustee for vulnerable adults, and as a magistrate, I have stood for fair treatment for all and a voice for the vulnerable. Safeguarding is at the non-negotiable core of these principles.

That conviction is also deeply personal. As a mother and stepmother to four daughters I care profoundly about the safety, rights and opportunities of women and girls. I also believe that every child experiencing distress deserves compassionate, evidence-based care from appropriately qualified practitioners acting within their professional competencies, and every family deserves confidence that their public bodies are willing to ask the difficult questions of others and of themselves.

Over the last two years, residents from Queen’s Park have come to me with increasingly urgent concerns which they said weren’t being heard and weren’t being answered.

Parents questioned the Council’s approach to gender-related issues affecting children and young people, the role of external organisations working in schools and the pathways through which some vulnerable children came to be referred for medical intervention.

Women who had experienced sexual violence spoke to me about their safety, dignity and difficulty accessing appropriate services.

They were not asking me to take sides in a culture war; they were asking me to ensure that their public bodies took their credible concerns seriously, sought and scrutinised evidence and discharged their safeguarding responsibilities fully.

As their councillor, I believed I had a duty to do exactly that.

The publication of NHS Sussex’s patient safety investigation into WellBN GP Practice reinforced those concerns. The investigation identified serious patient safety failures, including inappropriate prescribing for children and young people presenting with gender dysphoria.

The report and the similar concerns that parents raised with the council before and after its publication should have prompted open reflection from the council sooner about whether its own sex and gender-related policies, safeguarding between services and health scrutiny arrangements have been safe and sufficiently robust.

Over many months I have endeavoured to answer my residents’ concerns through the routes available to me. I have had private meetings, I have engaged with officers on the data, I have spoken at our Group meetings and I have attempted to ask questions at committee and council meetings.

Although my NHS job meant I couldn’t play a direct role in scrutinising health services, I have tried to improve our approach to reducing violence against women and girls in our licensing strategy, to raise the profile of women and girls’ safety needs in our City Plan, to strengthen whistleblowing for staff in my role on the Audit and Standards Committe, to inject renewed vigour into our use of Equality Impact Assessments through my role on the People Oversight and Scrutiny Committee and I have tried to hold Full Council to account for the accurate use of sex and gender data across all our services.

Most recently, in light of the WellBN report, I have asked leadership for a public review of the council’s scrutiny of gender-related health services and an urgent review of its guidance for schools, equivalent guidance recognising the rights and needs of girls and an independent review of council policies to ensure compliance with equality law.

Throughout I have only asked for what I regard as reasonable and proportionate steps that any public authority committed to safeguarding, lawful governance and democratic accountability should be undertaking proactively and openly.

When I followed up on safeguarding concerns raised publicly in my election hustings I was told they had not been echoed in private complaints so there was no case to answer. When I pushed for more robust licensing measures to protect women and girls, I was told that I should not communicate with officers or others on issues which weren’t solely restricted to Queen’s Park ward – despite being a member of the Licensing Committee at the time and both licensing and violence against women and girls being very much of concern to my residents.

Most recently I was told that the council would make no public statement about its scrutiny of health services in light of WellBN’s patient safety failures because, again, there was no case to answer. Even though the 78 children and young people in the scope of the report were found to have been potentially harmed by services which our council has a statutory duty to hold to account.

Today, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated Code of Practice comes into effect, reflecting the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling that clarified the correct interpretation of the Equality Act 2010. Public authorities not only have a fundamental duty to comply with the law on single sex spaces and services but an obligation to demonstrate to their residents urgently now how and when they intend to do so. Brighton and Hove City Council has not yet provided that assurance, either to me in private or, as I have asked for, publicly.

This resignation is not an attack on colleagues, officers or any community. It is about whether our council is prepared to engage with residents’ reasonable concerns, to openly ask difficult questions of itself and others, and to both comply with the law and be seen to do so.

The greatest privilege of being a councillor for a ward as rich in community spirit as Queen’s Park has been helping residents navigate difficult situations and standing alongside them when they needed someone prepared to challenge public bodies or powerful interests.

Ensuring everyone gets fair treatment and standing up for the vulnerable has guided my public service and professional life and it will continue to do so. Safeguarding is at the non-negotiable core of that responsibility and it is owed equally to gender-distressed children, to women and girls, and to every member of our community. I deeply regret that I cannot pursue that effectively in this administration and I am therefore resigning my post as councillor so I can continue my work through other means.