Phillipson faces backlash after accusing Reform and Tories of weaponising violence against women

Bridget Phillipson has accused Reform and the Conservatives of weaponising violence against women and girls. In an interview with The Independent, she said parts of the right were using the issue in a way that would not challenge attitudes or make women safer. She said her focus was on allowing all women to live without fear of intimidation and abuse.

She also said the Tories and Reform often approached the issue through political point scoring and were not serious about taking the action needed to protect women. In the same interview, she responded to Kemi Badenoch having called her a spiteful class warrior by saying she remained a proud spiteful class warrior.

The remarks drew a sharp response in a late-night broadcast discussion. Contributors rejected her characterisation of the right's record. They said the Home Office had produced a booklet telling migrants not to rape children and challenging attitudes to female genital mutilation. They argued that Britain faces a tidal wave of violence against women and girls and that imported attitudes were part of the problem. They cited the Pakistani rape gang scandal, small boat crossings and a Brighton beach rape case in which an illegal migrant was asked in court to explain the difference between rape and sex.

The discussion also raised the rape conviction rate, which one contributor said was around 2 per cent a decade ago, and the impact of austerity on services for victims, including rape kits, police support and community care. A contributor said it was ironic that senior Conservatives who now speak about violence against women had presided over cuts to those services. They also pointed to James McMurdock, who was elected for Reform and is now an independent MP, as a convicted woman beater, saying this showed hypocrisy on the issue. Even so, the contributor said Phillipson's wording was a bad thing to say.

The exchange turned to Piddington, where around 1,200 illegal migrant men are due to be housed in a small village. Kemi Badenoch had posted that this was not an immigration issue but a women's rights issue, wording that was criticised because she did not say it was not just an immigration issue. Women and children in Piddington made a video asking female MPs to listen. Phillipson said all women deserved to be safe, including those in Piddington, but critics dismissed that as a woolly answer that did not address local concerns.

The broadcast also included a disputed claim that the Labour government was going to court to try to prevent the release of migrant crime data. One contributor said the Freedom of Information rejection was under appeal and that the case was going to court as part of that appeal. The claim was challenged during the segment.