The home secretary, Priti Patel, has hinted the government will consider recording misogyny as a hate crime and setting up a national register of stalkers, as MPs and peers clamoured for swift action to tackle violence against women and girls.
Both the Commons and the Lords saw numerous debates on Monday in the wake of the killing of Sarah Everard and Saturday’s vigil in her name on Clapham Common where police arrested participants.
Speaking during a statement on the Metropolitan police’s actions, Patel told MPs she would be “candid” about the fact the government was looking at cross-party proposals to do more to tackle male violence and harassment.
Peers defeated the government and passed an amendment to the Domestic Abuse bill on Monday, which would create the stalkers register, one of a number of new measures to protect women proposed in the laws that the government must now consider.
Meanwhile in the Commons, MPs also raised concern about the dangers of heavy-handed policing of demonstrations at the debate on the Police, Sentencing and Crime bill, which would give police more powers to restrict demonstrations. Labour has said it will oppose the bill.
Here are some of the most striking quotes from the day’s debates:
Former prime minister Theresa May:
“Freedom of speech is an important right in our democracy, however annoying or uncomfortable sometimes that might be … I do worry about the potential unintended consequences of some of the measures in the bill, which have been drawn quite widely. Protests have to be under the rule of law, but the law has to be proportionate … It’s tempting with home secretaries to think that giving powers to the home secretary is very reasonable because we all think we’re reasonable but actually future home secretaries may not be so reasonable … I would urge the government to consider carefully the need to walk a fine line between being popular and populist – our freedoms depend on it.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow home secretary:
“This bill would allow someone to receive a sentence for attacking the statue of a slave trader of up to 10 years, when rape sentences start at five years. That does not reflect the priorities of the people … Violence against women and girls seems to be seen as less serious than other forms of violence, this has to be addressed. Tougher sentencing on its own is not enough, we know that wider change across our society is needed, and we know that the government has decimated our public services over the last 11 years has totally lost sight of addressing the causes of crime as well, with sadly predictable consequences of rising violent crime in every single police force in England and Wales.”
Charles Walker MP, Conservative:
“This house criminalised the freedom of protest. This house – us. Not Dame Cressida, not the Metropolitan police. We did. We criminalised the freedom to protest collectively. We are up to our eyeballs in this.”
Sir Edward Leigh MP, Conservative:
“Over the years we have fought hard to ensure speech that one person or another might find ‘insulting’ or ‘offensive’ is still protected as free speech. We must make sure that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill respects and protects freedom of expression.”
Yvette Cooper, Labour MP and chair of the home affairs select committee:
“The tragic death of Sarah Everard is on all our minds, something which has led women across the country to talk of our shared experiences of threats on our own streets of our own towns and cities. Over 40 years after the first Reclaim The Night marches in Leeds, we’re still having the same debates all over again and in some areas it feels like things have gone backwards.”
The Labour peer Lady Royall:
“The disappearance and murder of Sarah yet again the highlights the fear and reality of male violence for all women. Women are tired of domestic abuse and stalking being considered a women’s issue … We need men to step up, take ownership and responsibility, and create the urgently needed change that holds other men to account for their behaviours. We need to focus on perpetrators. This is a time to look to the future, to prevent the violent abuse, coercive control, stalking and murder of women in our society.”
Harriet Harman, Labour MP and former acting party leader:
“The terrible outcome of the police ban on the Clapham Common vigil in the wake of the tragic killing of Sarah Everard shows how wrong the government is to try in this bill to curb the right to demonstrate … Women don’t want us to sympthaise they want action and that’s what we should do.”
Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative MP and former party leader:
“Is this bill perfect? No, by no means is it perfect. Will it get corrected? I hope as it goes through, certainly … I accept there are issues around freedom of speech and the right to assemble and I think this will be dealt with during the course of the debate. But this overall is a good bill.”