Shadow minister mocked for ‘women-only carriages’ idea
A SHADOW minister and close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has been savaged by female colleagues after he suggested women-only train carriages as a way of combating sexual assaults on public transport.
After figures showed a sharp rise in assaults on trains, Chris Williamson MP said there was “merit” in the idea that was first raised by Mr Corbyn in 2015.
But he was upbraided by female MPS who said he was taking his cue from Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women and the policy would “normalise” such attacks.
One critic even attached a sign to the door of his office in Parliament, which said: “Woman? Sexually harrassed [sic] at work? How about working on your own floor?”
The most recent statistics from British Transport Police show that 1,448 sexual offences on trains were reported in 2016-17, compared with 650 in 201213. Mr Williamson, the shadow fire minister, tweeted a graph showing the increase in sexual assaults and saying Mr Corbyn had been right to suggest segregated carriages.
“It would be worth consulting about it,” Mr Williamson later added. “It was pooh-poohed, but these statistics seem to indicate there is some merit in examining that.”
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP, reacted with dismay, saying: “Can we make all carriages safe for all passengers rather than restricting where we can go?
“It doesn’t keep women safe to restrict their movements – it normalises attacks. We need to be clear they [the attackers] are the problem, not women’s seating plans.”
Jess Phillips, another Labour MP, said it was an “absolutely terrible idea”, adding: “It is essentially giving up on trying to prosecute assaults … if you take your feminist cues from Saudi Arabia, you’ve gone wrong.”
Lord Adonis, the former Labour transport secretary, said it was “an absolutely crazy idea”.