Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ashley Dalton and Kemi Badenoch(8 months, 1 week ago)
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Ashley Dalton (West Lancashire) (Lab)
Last week, the Minister for Women and Equalities rightly called the comments of Conservative party donor Frank Hester about the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) “racist.” It has since emerged that Mr Hester has said that a group of Indian members of staff should
“climb on the roof, like on the roof of the train”
and has made reference to “Asian corner.” Does the Minister agree that those comments are racist—yes or no?
Kemi Badenoch
I understand why the Labour party insists on bringing this issue up over and over again, but Mr Hester has apologised for his comments, we have welcomed his apology, and we are drawing a line under it. We are focused on what matters to the people of this country. I had letters last week from people telling me that we were wasting time focusing on issues that were not relevant to them. We need to focus on what matters to the British people.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Ashley Dalton and Kemi Badenoch(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Ashley Dalton (West Lancashire) (Lab)
Under the Conservatives, police-recorded rapes have soared to record highs while convictions have fallen to record lows. It emerged last week that the Conservative police and crime commissioner in Cheshire victim-blamed girls wearing short skirts for this epidemic. Why are these attitudes still tolerated in the Conservative party?
Kemi Badenoch
Those attitudes are not tolerated in the Conservative party. I have not seen the remarks the hon. Lady refers to, but I am sure that we can investigate. However, I will push back on what she said about rape statistics. The fact is that, for the year ending March 2023, the crime survey for England and Wales shows a 5.1% reduction in the number of adults experienced domestic abuse—a statistically significant decrease—compared with the year ending March 2020.