LIZ: I’ll turn the relentless tide of public sexual comments and bring in a law against ‘street harassment’
MEN who harass women with vile sexual comments will be brought to justice in a new pledge by Liz Truss to make the streets safer.
The Tory leadership hopeful has announced plans to create an offence of ‘street harassment’ if she becomes prime minister.
It could see men prosecuted for persistently making obscene or misogynistic comments, gestures towards women in public or following them to intimidate them – yet behaviour such as wolf-whistling would not be covered.
It is hoped that the new law would help lessen the fear that women feel while walking alone, heightened by recent murders such as that of Sarah Everard.
Miss Truss said: ‘Over the last two years, our nation has been shocked by a number of high profile murders of women, many here in London. It is the responsibility of all political leaders, including us in Westminster and the Mayor of London to do more.
‘Violence against women and girls doesn’t have to be inevitable. Women should be able to walk the streets without fear of harm and perpetrators must expect to be punished.’
Plans to outlaw ‘public sexual harassment’ were floated last year but Boris Johnson blocked them, saying police should focus on existing crimes instead. Ministers also rejected calls to make misogyny a hate crime.
A recent Home Office consultation mentions ‘making an obscene or offensive gesture’ or comment, following someone or driving slowly alongside them as possible examples of public sexual harassment. But wolf-whistling would not be criminalised under Miss Truss’s plan, not least because it would likely lead to a surge in reported offences, tying up police resources.
It would also be difficult for prosecutors to secure convictions without clear evidence of the perpetrator or their intended target.
Miss Truss has already signalled her desire for police to focus on some of the most serious offences, calling for all forces to cut murder, violence and burglary numbers by 20 per cent within two years if she becomes prime minister.
In addition to proposals for a new crime of street harassment, Miss Truss yesterday also pledged to introduce a database of domestic abusers, similar to the existing list of known sex offenders.
The National Domestic Abuse Register was announced by the Home Office in March but has yet come into force. It would mean convicted abusers having to tell police if they moved house or set up a joint bank account with a new partner.
Miss Truss also intends to speed up the progress of rape cases through the courts system.
Her pledges come after she told police to get back to basics and cut the rates of the most serious crimes by 20 per cent rather than intervening in petty online spats.
Rachel Maclean, former safeguarding minister, said: ‘Women and girls should be free to live their lives in safety, and I know as prime minister Liz will deliver tougher safeguards for domestic abuse victims, including tagging for the most violent offenders.’