2 hours ago
4
Phillips criticises Tories for focusing largely on threat from migrants in official response to VAWG plan
In response to Lam (see 1.02pm), Phillips said that she agreed that data collection about these crimes has not been good enough.
She said the government was increasing the number of foreign offenders being deported.
But she suggested Lam was ignoring the main problem.
What I would also say to [Lam] is, if the only crime that I had to concern myself with halving was that was committed by people who arrive in our country, my job would be considerably easier because the vast majority of the data that I am talking about is around people who were born in our country abusing other people who were born in our country.
From every culture, from every creed, I have yet to come across any community where violence against women and girls does not happen.
Lam gave the official Tory response to the VAWG announcement when she replied in the Commons to Phillips’ statement. Lam devoted almost all of her time to talking about the alleged risk to migrants posed by migrants.
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Children's commissioner says she's 'deeply concerned' VAWG plan does not do enough to protect girls under 16
Rachel de Souza, the children’s commission, has issued this statement about the VAWG plan. While she welcomes many elements of it, she says she is “deeply concerned” that it does not contain enough measures to protect girls under the age of 16. She says:
This strategy is an important step in our shared ambition to end violence against women and girls. I’m pleased to see many of my recommendations included, especially a new network of ‘Child Houses’ [see 10.01am], which are hugely valuable services bringing highly skilled professionals together under one roof to care for child victims of abuse and give them a voice.
I’m also delighted to see a move to ban nudification tools as I have pushed for, which strip people naked in images against their will. [See 1.37pm.] There is simply no reason for these tools to exist and I’m grateful to the government for responding decisively to this growing threat in children’s lives.
The focus on evidence-based relationships education that addresses the realities of teenagers’ lives today is welcome, as is the move to prioritise better training for teachers and experts to shape children’s views early on – but this must be done with sensitivity, without demonising young boys or pitting them against girls.
However, I remain deeply concerned that too much of this strategy will only protect girls who are 16 or over. We need robust data measures to see if the strategy is working, but this cannot be at the expense of listening and responding to the risks facing every girl from a young age.
Phillips says 'nudification' tools that create fake, nude pictures of real people without permission to be banned
In her opening statement to MPs, Phillips said that nudification tools are going to be banned. The Home Office has set out more detail on this in a news release.
More women and girls will be protected from deepfake abuse as new laws will ban ‘nudification’ tools that use generative AI to turn images of real people into fake nude pictures and videos without their permission.
As part of the government’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, ministers have pledged to make it impossible for children in the UK to take, share or view a nude image using their phones. The government will join forces with tech companies so we can work together to make this a reality and better protect young people from grooming, extortion, bullying, harassment and sexual abuse …
The government will work with tech companies to develop solutions to image based abuse, expanding on technology already being implemented by British safety tech company Safe To Net, and nudity detection filters already on smartphones …
The new legislation will allow the police to target the firms and individuals who design and supply these [nudification] tools.
Worryingly, these apps allow users to strip clothes, and produce intimate videos without the consent of those depicted – with devastating and long-lasting consequences to victims. Highly realistic, this technology has led to a scourge of financially motivated sexual extortion and even suicide in some cases. In Spain, the town of Almendralejo was devastated after several perpetrators used these apps to create nude images of twenty children walking to school.
Government has also already legislated to criminalise the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes, ensuring that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm.
Nick Timothy (Con) asks Phillips to confirm that the crimes of the rape gangs were racially motivated.
Phillips says she cannot comment on particularly cases. But the government is making grooming an aggravated offence, she says.
But she says she accepts that women were targeted for being white, working-class girls.
In the Commons Lizzi Collinge (Lab) says she was surprised to hear Katie Lam tell MPs that in Britain people understand the concept of consent. (See 12.52pm.) Every day there are examples of British men not respecting the concept of consent, she says.
Home Office publishes VAWG plan
The Home Office has now published the VAWG plan. It comes in two parts – the strategy, and the action plan.
Phillips criticises Tories for focusing largely on threat from migrants in official response to VAWG plan
In response to Lam (see 1.02pm), Phillips said that she agreed that data collection about these crimes has not been good enough.
She said the government was increasing the number of foreign offenders being deported.
But she suggested Lam was ignoring the main problem.
What I would also say to [Lam] is, if the only crime that I had to concern myself with halving was that was committed by people who arrive in our country, my job would be considerably easier because the vast majority of the data that I am talking about is around people who were born in our country abusing other people who were born in our country.
From every culture, from every creed, I have yet to come across any community where violence against women and girls does not happen.
Lam gave the official Tory response to the VAWG announcement when she replied in the Commons to Phillips’ statement. Lam devoted almost all of her time to talking about the alleged risk to migrants posed by migrants.
Katie Lam suggests migration has increased risk to women as she gives Tory response to VAWG statement
Katie Lam, a shadow Home Office minister, is responding on behalf of the Tories.
She says truly protecting women and girls will involve difficult conversations.
Not every culture in the world believes that women are equal to men, she says.
And when those cultures come to this country, that can cause a problem.
She quotes what was said in court by the defence when an Afghan sex offender was being tried. The court was told that the defendant did not understand the concept of consent.
She claims that the government has not published full data on crime as committed by people from different nationalities, and by immigration status. She says there are “shocking” variations by nationality.
She calls for a debate on whether mass migration is making the situation worse.
Phillips thanks government colleagues who have helped with this. She acknowledges that she may have been “slightly annoying at times” as she asked for support on these measures.
Phillips says she has only had time to sum up some of the items in the strategy.
But, taken together, they show a transformational approach to what the government is doing, she says.
Phillips makes statement to MPs about VAWG strategy
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding and VAWG minister, is making her statement to MPs.
She starts by saying the government is treating violence against women and girls as the national emergency that it is.
She says this strategy is different from previous ones because it will use the entire power of the state to tackle the problem.
It has three strands, she says: preventing violence in the first place; stopping re-offending; and supporting victims.
On prevention, she says the government is investing £20m to stop misogynistic views being embedded in the first place.
She says schools will be given more resources. And teachers will be taught to spot the warning signs.
The government wants to make the UK one of the places with the strongest laws protecting people online.
She says nudification tools will be banned.
Emma Reynolds says farming and food partnership board being set up to help make farming more profitable
Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, has announced that she is setting up a farming and food partnership board. In a news release, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says:
Chaired by Emma Reynolds, with farming minister Dame Angela Eagle as deputy, the board will bring together senior leaders from farming, food production, retail, finance and government to take a practical, partnership-led approach from farm to fork to strengthen our food production …
The board will focus on removing barriers to investment, improving how the supply chain works and unlocking growth opportunities across different parts of primary production and processing. It will have a clear emphasis on supporting agricultural productivity, homegrown British produce and strengthening food security.
Reynolds made the announcement as she published the review by Minette Batters, the former NFU president, into farming profitability. It includes 57 recommendations that the government will consider.
UK willing to share with EU allies risks of using frozen Russian allies to help Ukraine, No 10 suggests
Downing Street has indicated that Britain is prepared to share the risks with European allies of using frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine.
At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson was repeatedly asked if the government was willing to accept Belgium’s requests to share the risk of unlocking frozen Russian assets for use in Ukraine.
He indicated the Government would, telling reporters:
I think it’s evident within the government’s actions that what we want to see is those immobilised assets used to support Ukraine.
We believe that delivering these funds sends a very clear signal to Putin that he cannot outlast the support of the UK and our allies, that is what we remain focused on.
Part of the VAWG strategy being announced shortly will involve getting schools to teach their pupils more about consent, misogyny and healthy relationships. One person who might not approve is Nick Gibb, the former Tory schools minister. In a memoir published recently, Reforming Lessons: Why English Schools Have Improved Since 2010 and How This Was Achieved, written with Robert Peal, he is critical of interventions like this. He says:
On the question of adding non-academic subjects to the national curriculum, calls in the media that ‘schools should really teach [insert favoured issues here]’ are the bane of life of any school reformer interested in raising standards … In 2018, Parents and Teachers for Excellence (a campaign group sympathetic to our reforms) decided to monitor this phenomenon, which they termed ‘curriculum dumping’. That year, they identified 213 such calls for the school curriculum to incorporate new topics, including knife crime, obesity, gambling, litter picking, bushcraft, sadomasochism, Love Island, sign language, the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, revenge porn, tree climbing, trampolining, and, rather extraordinarily, ‘how to swear’. In individual cases, all of these issues (well, almost all) had merit in being known, but taken together, no school in the country has enough hours in the year to cover such a panoply of fleeting media fancies.
Many ex-ministers write books, but mostly they focus on politics. Gibb was unusual because he did the same job, on and off, for more than 10 years, and he became a proper expert in his portfolio. As a political memoir, his book is exceptional because it’s a serious book about policy. For anyone at all interested in education, Reforming Lessons is a good read.
Ash Regan faces two-day suspension from Holyrood over code of conduct breach during gender recognition row
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Ash Regan, a former Scottish National party minister who defected to Alex Salmond’s nationalist party Alba, faces a two-day suspension from the Scottish parliament for breaching its code of conduct in a row over gender recognition.
Holyrood’s standards committee has recommended Regan, who now sits as an independent after quitting Alba some months after losing a leadership contest, be suspended on a Wednesday and Thursday – its busiest two days. That needs to be approved by a full vote in parliament, after the Christmas recess.
It ruled she had breached the MSP’s code by posting a claim on the social media site X which attacked the Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, over remarks Chapman made about the UK supreme court ruling on the definition of woman.
Chapman has been one of Holyrood’s most vociferous supporters of trans rights; Regan is one of its most vociferous gender critical activists.
Regan said on X: “I’ve formally reported Maggie Chapman MSP to the presiding officer and standards committee following her dangerous dismissal of the supreme court’s ruling on the Equality Act as a ‘political attack’. MSPs have a duty to uphold the law, not undermine it.”
After considering a report from Holyrood’s ethics commissioner, the committee unanimously agreed this was a breach of part 9.1 of the code of conduct, which bars MSPs from disclosing, communicating or discussing complaints about other MSPs before a report on that complaint has been published.
VAWG minister Jess Phillips says UK will consider results of Australia's social media ban for under-16s 'very closely'
In interviews last week, Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, played down the prospect of the UK following Australia and banning under-16s from having their own social media accounts. She did not rule out the idea, but she said she did not believe it would be easy to enforce.
But, in her interviews this morning, Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls (VAWG) sounded much more positive about the Australian experience, saying the government would consider it “very closely”. She told Times Radio:
What I would say is that you cannot have a violence against women and girls policy that doesn’t look at the online environment, or certainly one that looks at misogyny and the behaviours of boys who grow into men without looking at an online world …
The government will be looking very, very closely at what is happening in Australia, and we would always take the best of what is available around the world with regard to the safety and security of children.
But Phillips also said the UK had been a “trailblazer” for online safety.
Today, when the full policies are announced in the violence against women and girls strategy, you will see that online harm, online harms to children, are very, very much part of that.
MPs cheer as speaker tells them employment rights bill has received royal assent
The employment rights bill has received royal assent, which means it is now the Employment Rights Act and it is law, Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, told the Commons this morning. Labour MPs cheered when they heard the news.
