Save lives.. not statues

LONGER jail sentences for defacing a statue than for rape reveal this Conservative Government’s warped priorities.

The murder of Sarah Everard and the following scenes on London’s Clapham Common exposed the moral bankruptcy of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Of course Labour is right to vote against it, when it offers more protections for monuments than for sexually assaulted women.

Ministers focusing on the “emotional or symbolic value” of statues appear blind to the pain endured by women domestically abused, physically attacked or even murdered.

It is the criminal justice system, undermined by years of Tory cuts, that requires urgent fixing, not the statute book itself.

Laws already exist to fine and imprison vandals. The Bill is an attempt to divert attention from Tory failures and spark culture wars.

Labour titan Nye Bevan, founder of the NHS, famously said the “language of priorities is the religion of socialism”.

Unforgivably, the safety and protection of women are not priorities for this Government.

A POLICE officer has been charged with rape and sexual assault and will appear in court next week.

Police Sergeant Ben Lister, of West Yorkshire Police, will appear at Bradford magistrates court on March 24.

West Yorkshire Police said Lister, based at Bradford District, had been suspended from the force.

A spokesman said: “A West Yorkshire Police officer has been charged with one count of rape and one of sexual assault.”