Today at Prime Minister's Questions, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, called for MPs from all parties to show “collegiate spirit” and come together and support the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
The Prime Minister made the call in responding to a question from Cities of London & Westminster MP Nickie Aiken who had asked the PM whether he agreed that women and girls' safety needed to be treated sensitively, following recent events.
Nickie asked the Prime Minister the following,
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recent horrific events have brought the important debate on women and girls' rights into the spotlight and specifically, their right to be safe and feel safe as they go about their daily lives.
Does my Right Honourable Friend agree that such issues need to be treated sensitively, and false claims made by the Labour Party last night on social media about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill are misleading and certainly not helpful?
The Prime Minister responded,
Well, Mr. Speaker, I think it was certainly a mistake and a regrettable mistake for anybody to suggest that rape had been decriminalised in this country because we must do everything, we can to reassure victims of rape and sexual violence and get them to come forward.
And that is what we're doing.
And I also think it will be a good thing if together we could vote for some of the tougher sentences that we've put forward in this Bill.
And I like the collegiate spirit that we had earlier on.
I hope it can be extended to voting for the tougher sentences that we put forward.
You can also watch Nickie ask her question and the Prime Minister's response above.
