Reform Says Its New Justice Adviser’s View On Trans Prisoners Is Not Party Policy
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, speaks at a press conference in Westminster, outlining the party's plans to reform the criminal justice system, London, 21 July 2025 (Credit: Dinendra Haria/Alamy Live News)
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Reform UK has told PoliticsHome that the view of its new justice adviser, Vanessa Frake, that there should be no blanket ban on trans women in women’s prisons, is not party policy.
Frake is a former prison governor who wrote a book about her career called The Governor. She has been unveiled today as a Reform supporter who will advise the party on justice as part of its focus on crime in the UK.
In an interview with The Times, the new adviser said she did not believe trans women should be automatically removed from women's prisons.
She suggested instead that the placement of trans women should be considered on a case-by-case basis and depend on risk assessments.
“People who want to just see a blanket ban clearly have never stepped foot in a prison and seen how prison runs and seen [how] risk assessments on individuals happen,” she said.
Frake added: “I’m not an expert on trans people, all that I know is that everybody should be treated with humanity and decency.”
Asked whether Frake’s view reflected Reform Party policy on trans prisoners, a Reform spokesperson replied: “No.”
PoliticsHome understands that Reform believes there is no problem with its adviser disagreeing with the party line on the matter.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage offered an ambiguous answer when asked about the party's policy on trans prisoners at a press conference alongside Frake today.
“Isn't it interesting that we run our country with people who become ministers, who generally have absolutely no idea of the subject matter they're talking about? I've personally never worked in a prison so I can't answer it,” Farage said.
“Basically, it's about risk assessment, isn't it?” he added. “In terms of the problems in prisons, it's a relatively small one.”
A Labour source said: “If Reform's policy people aren't representing party policy, who or what is? Completely unserious.”
Reacting to Farage's comments, they added: “Much like Boris Johnson, he'll say anything to get himself through a press conference. It's never coherent or reasoned. As scrutiny increases, this stuff will further fall apart.”
Conservative MP Rebecca Paul, who is campaigning against the inclusion of trans women on the female estate, said she was “surprised” by Frake's view, saying: “I disagree… and so does the law.”
Paul asserts that biological males should not be held in the female prison estate and has told the Labour government that the “seven males in HMP Downview, a women’s prison in Banstead, must be moved without delay”.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said in response that the males in HMP Downview are in a transgender-only facility within the prison.
Mahmood has expressed support for the policy inherited from the last Conservative government – that “no trans woman convicted of a rape or serious violence offence who retains birth genitalia would ever be considered for being placed in the women’s estate” – and promised Labour would “build on that following the Supreme Court ruling”.
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act “man”, “woman” and “sex” are references to biological sex.
