PMQ: Sarah Everard and Sexual Crimes Against Women

The United Kingdom Parliament met together for the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions Time. Labor Party and Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer asked six questions to Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader Boris Johnson regarding the recent death of Sarah Everard, and sexual crimes against women.

Starmer opened up the PMQs by giving his thoughts to Everard’s family. He spoke about the unspeakable grief they must feel.

“There were five words that will stick with us for a very long time: She was just walking home.”

He said that her death had revealed the epidemic that women and girls have went through. He has called for an end to sexual violence.

Johnson agreed with Starmer’s remarks. He said that those same emotions were being felt by everyone in the House and around the country.

“That event has triggered a reaction that I believe is holy justified and understandable,” he said.

He would work to speed up the prosecution against her murderer. He had implemented resources to help change laws regarding domestic violence.

He agreed that women were not being heard. There must be change in the culture.

Starmer spoke about the multiple challenges that women faced in the country. On the streets, many women and girls did not feel safe. There must be legal protection to stop street harassment. The law must also be toughened regarding stalking.

Johnson said that there had been a law brought up in the House last night. This law looked at police crime and sentencing. It also looked at more protection for women and girls. He said that Starmer and other members of the Labor Party did not support the bill.

“It would have been good in a cross party way, Mr. Speaker, to have had the support of the opposition,” he said.

Starmer did mention that the bill focused more on less severe crimes than on crimes against women.

In regard to the next challenge, he said that most women did not feel safe reporting sexual assault crimes. He created a bill to protect and give legally enforceable rights to victims of sexual assault. He called for the Conservative Party to support the bill.

“Its ready to go, all it needs is political will to act,” he said.

Johnson agreed with Starmer’s viewpoints, but he said that the government placed a lot of resources to protect women. He had placed 100 billion pounds to stop violence against women and girls. Although it was not the full solution, he said that it was apart of the solution.

A third challenge Starmer brought up was the prosecution rates against sexual assault crime. He said that 98.5% of reported rape crimes did not lead to prosecution. He said that the Prime Minister needed to implement policies and strategies to deal with this problem.

Johnson said that he was disturbed by the rate of prosecution rapes. To combat this, he would implement measures to speed up processes for the law. He also toughened measures for men who committed these crimes.

Starmer said that the bill that was put towards the House last night did not look at providing longer sentences for rape. He called for the House to come together to bring about real change.

Johnson responded by saying that the Bill would stiffen sentences of rape. As of now, the average rape sentence is typically nine years, and maximum sentences is typically life.

“I warmly welcome what he suggests about wanting to fix it together,” he said.

Other Members of Parliament asked questions to Johnson during the remainder of the PMQs.