Corbyn’s women-only train carriages plan:

Leadership rivals take the front-runner to task over a suggestion that segregation might be worth exploring

JEREMY CORBYN has been accused of “turning the clock back” on women’s rights after he suggested female-only carriages on trains in the evenings could help stop assaults.

The Labour leadership front-runner was attacked by rival candidates, transport officials and Tory ministers after revealing he would consider the idea.

During the backlash, it emerged a Department for Transport study concluded the move would be a “retrograde step” that could appear “insulting” and “patronising”.

The row broke out when Mr Corbyn attempted to highlight the issue following the release of figures showing the number of sex offences on Britain’s railways increased sharply last year.

There were 1,399 sexual offences in 2014/15, up from 1,117 the previous year, according to British Transport Police.

Mr Corbyn said: “Some women have raised with me that a solution to the rise in assault and harassment on public transport could be to introduce women-only carriages.

“My intention would be to make public transport safer for everyone, from the train platform to the bus stop.

“However, I would consult with women and open it up to hear their views on whether women-only carriages would be welcome – also if piloting this at times and on modes of transport where harassment is reported most frequently would be of interest.”

But all three of his leadership rivals panned the idea – with Yvette Cooper saying: “Segregation to ‘keep women safe’ is turning the clock back, not tackling the problem.

“We shouldn’t have to shut ourselves away from men for our own safety.” Andy Burnham, who a day earlier had been accused of sexism after suggesting that Labour was not yet ready for a woman leader, said: “I want to see a proper society-wide strategy on tackling violence against women.”

Rail minister Claire Perry said: “Experts and campaigners agree that segregation is not the solution.”

Senior Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, the health select committee chairman, said: “Segregating women on transport doesn’t protect anyone, it just normalises unacceptable attitudes.”

The row came as Mr Corbyn also indicated he supports giving prisoners the vote – a policy strongly opposed by David Cameron despite pressure to implement it from the European courts.

George Osborne insisted yesterday that Jeremy Corbyn is “no joke” and must be taken “very seriously” if he wins. The Chancellor warned Tories against being “complacent” despite Labour’s slump in the opinion polls.

Two years ago, a perfectly calm and normal-looking fortysomething bloke thrust his hand towards my crotch on a London bus.

I was sitting, weighed down with several shopping bags, when this besuited man, walking along the aisle, decided to grab my hand, stroke it, and then continue moving it towards my nether regions. Throughout this grim experience, his face, close to mine, remained expressionless and he said nothing. Neither did I.

I was paralysed by shock and total bewilderment. What was this man

doing? What did he want? Why was this happening? Finally – after what seemed like an eternity, but was only a matter of seconds – I came to my senses and I shook him off, to a soundtrack of suitable expletives. As I shouted, my husband grabbed the creepy man by the scruff of his neck and threw him off the bus, which had just pulled in at a stop.

After such an odd experience – which spooked me and my husband for some time – you could be forgiven for thinking that I might be in favour of women-only carriages or sections on public transport. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The only reason this retrograde and foolish idea is even being discussed in 21st-century Britain is because Jeremy Corbyn, the frontrunner in the Labour leadership race, floated it. He thinks it might put an end to the rise of sexual harassment and assault on our transport networks.

To be fair to Mr Corbyn, the idea was suggested to him by a group of unnamed women campaigners. But by saying that he would consult experts about it, the 66-year-old has given a fringe idea mainstream attention.

Perhaps supporters of this sort of idea should find some real women to talk to – in general, we don’t wish to be segregated from the male species, unless they’re suffering from a nasty infestation of nits. On the two occasions when I was sexually harassed on public transport (the second time, a man pressed himself against me as I travelled home after recording a Woman’s Hour special – no small irony there), other male passengers have been extraordinarily supportive – in both shaming and removing the offenders.

Moreover, it’s not just women who feel threatened when travelling alone. I know many men who have felt uneasy on our trains and buses as hooded kids pile in and boozy louts make their presence aggressively felt. In fact, part of the reason London Underground rejected night-time women-only carriages back in 1999 was because it wouldn’t solve the serious issue of man-on-man assault. At the time, the greatest threat of violence on the Tube was to men aged between 17 and 24, from, you guessed it, other young men. (Besides, don’t get me started on some of the poisonous vitriol that can pour out of the mouths of alcohol-fuelled women on late-night trains.)

I am grateful, though, to these supporters of segregated carriages for taking the issue of assault on British transport seriously – or certainly more seriously than this Government has. Sex offences on trains and at stations are at a record high. But womenonly carriages are plainly not the solution. They are the preserve of less developed countries – and often those with shocking levels of sexual inequality. Mexico, Thailand, Iran, India, Japan and Brazil all offer their female citizens the “right” to segregate themselves. Need I say more?

The UK has actually tried ladies-only compartments before with paltry results. They were introduced in 1874 by the Metropolitan Railway and the uptake was low. (But it still took sluggish British Rail, another thing Mr Corbyn would like to resurrect, until 1977 to abolish them officially.) So does anyone really think this kind of segregation is a plausible solution to a deeply entrenched cultural problem?

Women-only carriages on our transport networks would be an admission of defeat and a step backwards. Instead, we need politicians and educators to address the behaviours and attitudes that lead a minority of men to think this kind of treatment is ever permissible. Penalising women through seating segregation is the stuff of dystopian nightmare – not an egalitarian and thoughtful society, which Britain should always be.