MP Layla Moran has spoken out against conversion therapy calling it “outdated” and “harmful”.

The MP for Oxford West and Abingdon has tabled a motion to Parliament to ban LGBTQ+ conversion therapy.

The motion, tabled on Thursday June 4 , calls on the Government to ensure that all citizens of the LGBTQ+ community feel protected from harm, with calls to make it a criminal offence to force people to attend conversion therapy and to send individuals abroad for it.

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Ms Moran, a Liberal Democrat leadership candidate who revealed in January she was pansexual and in a relationship with a woman, said: “Conversion therapy is a deeply harmful and outdated practice. Being forced to participate can have a lifelong mental health impact on members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“The Government must urgently protect people by making LGBTQ+ conversion therapy illegal. It should be an offence to run conversion therapy and to force anyone to attend it, either in the UK or abroad. I will continue to campaign against this dangerous practice that serves as an ongoing threat to the LGBTQ+ community.”

A national survey from 2018 of 108,000 members of the LGBTQ+ community suggested two percent have undergone the practice, with another five percent having been offered it.