DARREN LEWIS: ‘Scapegoating of migrants betrays ladies and women’
Please, Andy Burnham, don’t go the same way as Keir Starmer. Don’t betray the women, girls and people of colour who believed they would feel safer with a Labour government.
At first, I was convinced the booklet, issued by the Home Office, warning asylum seekers not to rape or sexually assault UK women and girls, was more of the stereotypical ragebait emanating from the Tories or the circus even further right. To have it come from Downing Street was simply incredible.
In response, more than 100 women and girls’ groups – including the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, Refuge and Rape Crisis – have signed a joint statement warning that using Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) to push anti-migrant campaigns leaves the country’s female contingent in more danger, not less.
They’ve also pointed out the facts. That it creates a false sense of security among British perpetrators. Statistics prove they are the ones responsible for the vast majority of domestic abuse and rape offences in the UK.
Rape Crisis numbers show two in five adult survivors of rape suffered it in their own home. Half of rapes against women are carried out by a partner or ex-partner.
As for the booklet warning migrants against sexist name-calling or catcalling, chilling stats from Rape Crisis reveal nine in 10 girls and young women in schools experience sexism, unsolicited pictures of male genitalia or other images of a sexual nature.
It has been happening in this country under our noses for years. The hard-hitting statement calls for urgent action from Prime Minister Andy Burnham to end the narrative that some mainstream politicians are using to further a far-right agenda.
To quote sections: “Not only do these falsehoods fail to keep women safe, they serve as a racist distraction that actively impedes the urgent work of addressing gender-based violence.
“Myths and misconceptions about sexual violence act as a barrier to justice. Spreading an inaccurate picture of VAWG in the UK allows the people – overwhelmingly men, from all walks of life – who harm women and girls to hide behind racial stereotypes and scapegoating.”
Stereotyping migrants also flies completely in the face of the claim from Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson that racism and sexism have been normalised in this country. A critical friend or a savvy adviser would have told her or this government that its record in both areas doesn’t leave it in the best place. People check these things.
When Sir Keir Starmer made his “Island of Strangers” remarks, widely condemned for its impact on people of colour as well as migrants last year, he was forced to row back. And yet Bridget’s public condemnation was conspicuous by its absence.
She was also a staunch defender of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s asylum reforms, which included the removal of support from families with refused claims, and a consultation on children being physically handled and forcibly removed from the UK in handcuffs to “overcome noncompliance”. Yes, really.
Nor has Bridget pushed back in the public domain on the planned early release of roughly 5,000 prisoners in early October, including domestic abusers. Plans that have left many women living in fear.
This entire page could so easily be filled with examples of the horrors experienced by women, people of colour – or both – confirming we’ve been knee-deep in a worst-case scenario for years.
Just ask the women waiting so long for their sexual assault cases to go to court that they give up. Or the people of colour dragged from their cars during the UK race riots of the past couple of years.
Or the people, including your columnist, who warned repeatedly, years ago, of the consequences of TV outlets broadcasting live the kind of racist rhetoric we last heard in the 70s.
The horse has bolted, Bridget. We’d all be better served working together on ways to catch it.
