Labour Manifesto

[AstonUniRank]

FWR relevant bits:

'Tackling violence against women and girls

For too long, violence against women and girls has been ignored. Our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade will require a national effort. We will use every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence.
That starts with tougher enforcement and protection. With Labour, there will be specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force. The most prolific and harmful perpetrators will be relentlessly targeted, using tactics normally reserved for terrorists and organised crime.
Prosecution rates for rape are shamefully low with many victims dropping out of the justice system when faced with years of delays. Labour will fast-track rape cases, with specialist courts at every Crown Court location in England and Wales.
Victims deserve better support. Building on the success of the approach adopted by Labour Police and Crime Commissioners, we will introduce domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms so that victims can talk directly to a specialist, and ensure there is a legal advocate in every police force area to advise victims from the moment of report to trial.
Violence and abuse against women and girls does not come from nowhere. Misogyny is one root cause, and therefore Labour will ensure schools address misogyny and teach young people about healthy relationships and consent. We will ensure police forces have the powers they need to track and tackle the problem.
Stalking has not been treated with the seriousness it deserves. Labour will strengthen the use of Stalking Protection Orders and give women the right to know the identity of online stalkers. Spiking is a devastating crime for victims, leaving many women feeling vulnerable when they go out. Labour will introduce a new criminal offence for spiking to help police better respond to this crime.
We will strengthen the rights and protections available to women in co-habiting couples, as well as for whistleblowers in the workplace, including on sexual harassment.'

Yeah, but the comments!

They don't like the Cass Review, do they?

Allowing the vote from 16 is utterly disgraceful, you are not legally classified as an adult until 18 and are until then classified as a minor!

NSPCC " In England, a child is defined as anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. "

Utterly nonsensical.

Quite simply I don't trust them to do a fraction of the things they say they will. Not with Reeves controlling the purse-strings. Like specialist rape teams and courts. They are also going to recruit 6500 new teachers, apparently, according to the bumf that came through my letterbox this morning. From where? Training up teachers from scratch takes years (and they don't stay in the profession anyway, another problem). The alternative is, get teachers in from abroad. But I don't suppose they like to use the word 'immigration'. Their 'worker's rights' package is another area where I'm very much "I'll believe it when I see it".

Don't agree with votes at 16 either (although the 16 year old me was/would have been all for it). 18 is fine.

This is frightening - I have 17 year old twins - not considered old enough to legally buy alcohol, get married and for good reason ...but old enough to vote?

The reason car insurance companies don't drop kids premiums significantly until they are 25 is there is medical evidence to support their brains don't finish developing until then - specifically the decision making part of their brain. While the decision making part of their brain is still developing its in the part of their brain where they make impulsive decisions.

The voting age should stay 18 inline with them becoming legal adults.

Yes and makes me question why the LP made this one of their priorities? We have an engaging youth parliament for children with an interest in politics. I hate being so cynical but I can't help being wary of people calling for children to be treated as little adults. Parental responsibility applies until our children are 18 for good reason.

Parental responsibility applies until our children are 18 for good reason.

Maybe this is the reason. Breaking apart, or breaking into, our responsibilities for our children. It's obvious this is the aim for the Greens and the SNP, so why not here as well?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5096055-plaid-cymru-manifesto?reply=135992107

Just dropping the Plaid Cymru manifesto here, too, for the sake of completeness.

It's the blurring and chipping away of these boundaries. I can hear it now "Well if they're mature enough to vote then of course they're old enough to get a GRC"

Yup. They must think we're stupid.

I remember when the voting age came down from 21 to 18, and along with it, if I recall correctly, a whole host of other restrictions, because 18 became the start of adulthood.

If this goes through, I don't see how they can possibly hold the line against young people under 18 buying alcohol or cigarettes or getting a credit card, or even a tattoo.

And after that, it'll be the age of consent. A wrecking ball for childhood then.

There is a huge TRA meltdown on twitter with them condemning LGBT Labour and the party in general because the manifesto supports the Cass review and backs single sex spaces. This includes Owen Jones.

Owen Jones@OwenJones84
You should be embarrassed of yourselves.

So I think Labour leadership are going to see this as a win because they want both the TRA and pro-woman folk to dislike this so they can pose as moderates.

While it isn't great it is not a complete disaster.

1 - The TRA are going to brand Labour as worse than Hitler and constantly attack them for the next 4 years. Their inability to face reality will in the long run strengthen our side inside Labour because they will alienate people.

2 - If Labour wants to push through a conversion therapy ban while respecting the Cass report they have a huge problem as they contradict each other. There will be a difficult bill to get through unless it is watered down. Expert testimony will undermine it. Remember time is on our side unless the TRA gets their laws passed before the wave of detrans cases, sports cheats and criminals become every more obvious then they will lose ground. I suspect the law may have so many loopholes to protect therapy it will not serve to help the TRA cause.

3 - It is all about the 2028 election. The Tories/Reform will be promising to revoke anything which is obviously flawed. So Labour have a vested interest in doing the bare minimum and avoiding controversy.

So the thing is to hold Labour to account and keep fighting. Remember our lawyers and Doctors are better than them as the SNP found out.

Yes this.

They want to remove the protections from children. This is queer theory., which the Labour party are apparently on board with. If 16 year olds can vote you cannot then logically prevent them from doing other adult things. Good luck keeping them in education until 18.

Then it'll be 14, then 12. And then we'll be on a par with so many other countries (and apparently, California, who knew) by allowing child marriage. Which of course almost exclusively results in the abuse of female children.

This is about removing safeguarding from children. Another reason not to vote for Labour.

There is a huge TRA meltdown on twitter with them condemning LGBT Labour and the party in general because the manifesto supports the Cass review and backs single sex spaces.

I bet there is. Even though we are thrown a shitty pile of crumbs, it's still too much for the misogynists.

Labour are an absolute disaster for women's rights.

I remember the saying I've read many times can't remember exactly but its along these lines: the right want men to be able to control individual women (fathers their daughters, husbands their wives etc) and the left want to control and own all women.

If given that shitty choice, I choose the former and most women would.

Look at how Labour has treated Rosie Duffield. Look at how they let LRM treat Miriam Cates in the House of Commons. That's likely the best they're capable of treating women since they clearly think it's fine.

To think we'd moved so far forward in terms of women's rights and how quickly they're slipping away again.

At least the Tories will let me say men can't be women without arresting me.

I missed this post at the time as I was going through the whole document (and I've still not finished) but I see what you mean:

We will remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance; whilst retaining the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist doctor, enabling access to the healthcare pathway.

It certainly looks ambiguous. The kindest thing I can say is that it's a badly written sentence and that their proof reader should have picked it up.

I agree that the party has treated RD terribly, but your post seems to ignore the fact that she is also Labour. She’s an adult who presumably feels that, on balance, Labour is better for women than the Tories

FWiW the wording of the GRC thing makes me agree with the first interpretation, but I'm not particularly comforted. Agree it's ambiguous and could potentially be flexed.

Well RD and I obviously disagree. I don't have to come to the same conclusion as her about her treatment at the hands of Labour. I've observed what's happened and - at the moment in the UK - am free to draw my own conclusion, not do whatever Rosie does. See, freedom of thought and speech.

I don't just draw that conclusion as a result of the RD or MC treatment, by the way. There are many, many things that make me conclude Labour will be a disaster for women and children.

The Tories will be slightly less of a disaster, and a disaster in different ways. That's all that can be said. But if we lose the ability to talk about women's rights and child safeguarding without it being a 'hate crime' then we lose women's rights and children's rights.

@DameMaud it's from the press Q&A at the launch event. It was livestreamed: https://www.youtube.com/live/gyna0dYUUSI?feature=shared.

I think we'll be screwed either way. It's depressing.

Tend to agree, worldwide there seems to be a move away from women's and children's safety, let alone rights. Not much of a peep about Afghanistan in the media these days....