Is this a good time to bring up the subject of whether Conservative governments can be relied on, whether they stick to their word, whether they keep their promises? It is years now since the UK Government said it wanted to ban an abhorrent practice some call therapy and others call torture. And yet several years on, the ban has still not happened. To be fair, the Scottish Government has looked pretty ropey on the subject too. Nicola Sturgeon, in a change from her usual tactics, effectively said she would wait and see what the UK Government did and possibly follow their lead. The campaign groups that represent victims of “therapy” have also expressed their frustration with the Government in Scotland. They began to wonder if a ban would ever happen. The promise to ban gay conversion therapy was first made by the UK Government in 2018 when the then Prime Minister Theresa May said the Government would be outlawing it as part of an effort to counter intolerance and discrimination. Her promise came after a Government survey found that some 2 per cent of gay people have undergone the practice. Mrs May said she had been shocked into action. “No-one should ever have to hide who they are or who they love,” she said. When Boris Johnson took over, the same promise was made again, but his Government has since been accused of dragging its feet on the issue and possibly even going backwards. In 2021, three of the Government’s LGBT advisers resigned and accused the equalities ministers Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch of creating a hostile and ignorant environment. Ms Truss, on the other hand, insisted she was committed to LGBT equality and would shortly be bringing forward her plans to ban the therapy. But the question is why we’re still waiting and it’s a question that matters because of the kind of experiences the people who have suffered conversion therapy have had to go through.