Starmer: I'll fight violence against women for daughter

Sir Keir Starmer has told of his own personal commitment to tackling violence against women in the hope that his young daughter and her friends feel safe.

- MAYA OPPENHEIM

The Labour leader told The Independent that schools and wider society must go further to tackle the attitudes and behaviour of young men and boys on consent and extreme online material.

Sir Keir said misogyny was the “root cause” of violence against women and girls and said tackling such views should be a “key part of school accountability”. His comments come days after senior Tory MP Caroline Nokes criticised her own government for refusing to commit to a new sex education strategy for boys which aims to tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

The women and equalities committee called for it to be rolled out in schools and said relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) should be made compulsory in sixth forms and colleges. But while the government said it would “consider” how to strengthen guidance on the issue, it failed to commit to adopting the recommendations from the cross-party group of MPs.

The rejection comes after exclusive YouGov data revealed that around a quarter of young men agree with misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate’s views on how women should be treated. Sir Keir accused the government of not looking violence against women “in the eye” and sitting “on their hands” as he reiterated his pledge to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.