Facts

Mordaunt claimed that she changed the gender neutral language in a piece of maternity legislation in 2021. 

The gender neutral language was removed after a Lords’ Amendment to the bill. Mordaunt claimed in the Commons that these Amendments were ‘tabled by my noble Friend Lord Lucas’, and therefore not Mordaunt herself.

She further said that the gender neutral language the bill was initially drafted in was in line with ‘the long-standing convention to use gender-neutral drafting’, and would therefore be acceptable legally and in parliament.

Verdict

Mordaunt’s statement on LBC Radio does not reflect what she has said in the past. Hansard shows that she claimed Lord Lucas, and not herself, tabled the amendments and that the initial gender neutral language was in line with parliamentary conventions and therefore acceptable.

We approached Penny Mordaunt's office to give her a chance to comment, but received no response.