Sexual Harassment in Parliament Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Leader of the House
Gavin Shuker
Main Page: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)Department Debates - View all Gavin Shuker's debates with the Leader of the House
Sexual Harassment in Parliament
Gavin Shuker Excerpts(7 years, 1 month ago)
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Andrea Leadsom
l understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. What I suggested was that it should be possible for the accuser to remain anonymous, at least in the early stages. All too often, people have been afraid to come forward for fear of their names being all over the front pages of the newspapers.
Mr Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)
When reflecting on the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall), will the Leader of the House also take into account the fact that if we take a step forward here in Westminster, it will further perpetuate the gap, in terms of protection, between people who work in this place and our wider political constituencies—in other words, the culture of our political parties? We have a real duty of care to those activists, and bullying, intimidation and other forms of bad behaviour can often spread very easily against the background of a culture in which political parties seek to shut down allegations rather than bringing them into the light.
Andrea Leadsom
The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that point. I hope that if we can show leadership in this place, we shall then be able to tackle the wider ramifications throughout the country.