Fury As Philip Davies MP Challenges Bid To Strengthen Law Against So-Called ‘Honour Crimes’

Once again, Philip Davies is the sole voice of reason in a House of Commons debate - Philip Davies argued the bill was 'discriminatory' because it focuses on women

By Mikey Smith: A Tory MP challenged a bid to strengthen the law against so-called ‘honour crimes’ because it focused on women.

Shipley MP Philip Davies was the lone voice of objection in the House of Commons to a bill that would ban the term ‘honour killings’ from official publications.
Fellow Tory MP Nusrat Ghani proposed the move because, she said, Police are put off from investigating such crimes for fear of being branded racist.
She told the Commons: "Members of this House, during their constituency duties, will have encountered cases in which the police, and other agencies including the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) have been reluctant to tackle domestic violence in minority communities for fear of being accused of racism or of provoking community unrest.
"Indeed the CPS has acknowledged that it needs to improve its understanding, response and support to victims."
But Mr Davies who has long campaigned against “militant feminism” and has said feminists only want equality “when it suits them” was the sole objector to the bill.
He stood up in the House of Commons - which was packed ahead of the Article 50 debate - and said it risked being discriminatory towards men.
He told the Commons: "I'm afraid that whilst tackling one element of political correctness you have opened up another politically correct can of worms.
"And the main reason I oppose this motion today is because it only relates to female victims and not all victims."
The MP for Shipley added: "We don't have an offence for female murder or male murder, we just have murder."
There were 11,000 incidents of honour crime recorded in the UK between 2010 and 2015, MPs heard.
But too often desperate women who turn to police for help are sent home to their abusers because officers wrongly believe the cases are cultural issues, the Commons heard.
The Crime (Aggravated Murder of and Violence against Women) Bill would also require British authorities to prosecute those who beat and murder British women abroad, help bring the women home, and pay for the repatriation of the bodies of those murdered.
Ms Ghani (Wealden) told how one of her constituents was battered by her husband, treated like a domestic servant and left "terrorised - going to bed not knowing if she would be alive the next day".
Language "matters" and the Bill will commit Britain to describing the crimes for what they really are - murder, rape and abuse, she said.
This will give clarity to police, CPS, community leaders and the victims themselves that cultural and religious sensitivities are no barrier to justice, the Commons heard.
MP overwhelmingly agreed Ms Ghani should be granted leave to introduce the Bill.
It will be heard again on March 24 although the Bill is unlikely to become law without the Government's support because of a lack of parliamentary time.

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