London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Truss vows to outlaw street harassment as Sunak pledges ban on ‘downblousing’

Truss vows to outlaw street harassment as Sunak pledges ban on ‘downblousing’

Tory leadership hopefuls set out plans to tackle violence against women and girls, as Labour’s Stella Creasy welcomes Truss U-turn

Liz Truss has vowed to make street harassment a crime months after a similar move was blocked by Boris Johnson, while Rishi Sunak pledged to outlaw “downblousing” – taking a photo down a woman’s top without consent.

Both Tory leadership candidates set out plans to tackle violence against women and girls, which has been the focus of a longstanding campaign by opposition MPs and feminist activists, especially after the killings of women including Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and Zara Aleena.

Truss’s campaign promised that as prime minister, her administration would introduce “a standalone offence to criminalise street harassment, clamping down on aggressive and misogynistic behaviour”.

“Over the last two years, our nation has been shocked by a number of high-profile murders of women, many here in London. It is the responsibility of all political leaders, including us in Westminster and the mayor of London, to do more,” the foreign secretary said.

Stella Creasy, a Labour MP who has attempted to amend the law to have misogyny recognised in the criminal justice system, said it was a major U-turn by Truss given the government had voted against previous plans.

An amendment in the House of Lords to make misogyny a hate crime was rejected by ministers in February, but home secretary Priti Patel had promised the proposed offence of street harassment will be looked into.

Nimco Ali, an independent adviser to the Home Office, then suggested Johnson had put the block on any new law. She said there had been “pushback” and, when asked if it was from advisers to the prime minister, replied that it was “a lot closer”.

Creasy welcomed Truss’s announcement. “Recognising how misogyny drives crimes against women is something we have been calling for – and the government [has been] voting against – for some time, so this U-turn is welcome,” she said.

Truss knew misogynistic harassment did not just take place on the street, Creasy said, adding: “We need a coherent approach across the criminal justice system, learning from those police forces already recording these crimes and giving our courts the ability to punish those whose hatred of women means they seek to cause them harm.”

Truss also promised to introduce a national domestic abuse register and ensure it covered coercive and controlling behaviour and financial abuse.

The register is intended to offer better protection to potential victims of domestic abuse, requiring convicted offenders to inform the police of arrangements with new partners and their children.

Police would also be given increased powers for information sharing between the sex offender register and the new domestic abuse register. Truss’s campaign said she would also examine ways to speed up rape cases through the courts.

After being caught on the hop by Truss’s announcement, Sunak’s campaign released its own raft of policies hours later.

The former chancellor said he would ban downblousing and declared levels of sexual violence against women and girls a “national emergency”, adding that as a father of two young girls: “I want them to be able to go for a walk in the evening or to a shop at night without any fear of threat.”

Grooming gangs would also be targeted under Sunak’s plans, with a new taskforce set up by the National Crime Agency to investigate any town or city where significant levels of their activity is known to have occurred.

A new criminal offence would also be created for those arrested for child sexual exploitation who refuse to give their sex, ethnicity and nationality.

“We can not let sensitivities over race stop us from catching dangerous criminals who prey on women and I will not stop until we live in a society where women and girls can go about their daily lives feeling safe and secure,” Sunak said.

Under his plans, police would also be able to demand an explanation from those arrested over sexual offences or supplying drugs for children’s numbers on their phone.

And rape survivors would get lifelong priority access to mental health services rather than just in the immediate aftermath, with more people supported to take GCSEs and A-levels in later life if they were a victim of child sexual abuse.

Sunak’s team were buoyed by YouGov polling that found he was less unpopular than Truss among 2019 Tory voters who are deserting the party. Sunak had a net -25 favourability compared to Truss’s -45 among those who backed the Conservatives at the last election but said they would now vote Labour. Johnson’s net score was -90.

Among voters who had not decided whether to switch or not, Sunak’s lead was much slimmer – with -12 to Truss’s -16, and Johnson on -22.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×