Lancashire’s Labour leaders slam government bill to give police more powers to crack down on protests

Lancashire’s Labour leaders are hitting out at government legislation to give police more powers to crack down on protests.

Party MPs say they’ll vote against the bill in Parliament being debated following the scenes of officers clashing with people at a vigil for Sarah Everard on Saturday in London.

Lancashire County Councillor and leader of Lancaster City Council, Dr Erica Lewis, said: "In the context of the last week, the fact that it (the legislation) doesn't talk about women, the fact that it suggests stronger sentencing for damage to a statue than to damage to women...that's problematic.

"I think it's really clear that most people in the community want more to be done to end violence against women.

"Violence against women is so often about driving women out of public spaces.

"It's one of the reasons we take to the streets, it's one of the reasons it's called Reclaim These Streets, because one of the responses of violence against women is often to tell us to stay home.

"That means it is more difficult for us to participate in public life and fundamentally makes us unequal if we can't safely leave our homes.

"Women are often policed for taking up too much room, for talking too much, for being too noisy in public and so the police need to think about this and the legislation needs to think about this.

"There's something in there (the legislation) about noisy protests...that feels gendered to me, because it's more likely that a bunch of women making a noise will be considered unacceptable."

Cllr Lewis' comments come after she tweeted about a man who approached her this weekend and said he was 'best mates with the guy from Clapham & that he could rape me right there.'

Cllr Lewis said she was 'gobsmacked' at the comments and shocked that the man felt safe to to do that.

Leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, said the legislation did not include anything "meaningful'' on protecting women and girls: "We have got a 300-page Bill coming before Parliament, with 176 clauses of 20 schedules,'' the Labour leader told reporters.

"It says lots of things about statues and almost nothing about protecting women and girls, and particularly dealing with violence against women and girls.''

Reclaim These Streets had organised the vigil before being forced to cancel following consultation with Scotland Yard, which said the event would be in breach of coronavirus rules.

We have contacted Conservative MPs in Lancashire for comment.