Theresa May’s plan to toughen up sexual harassment policies at Westminster has run into criticism from some members of the working group created by the prime minister who say it will not sufficiently protect those making accusations against MPs. One MP on the working group complained that the process was “all pretty soft” and questioned how it was appropriate for dealing with complaints of former staff members, activists or visitors to the House of Commons. The cross-party group discussed initial proposals based on parliament’s current “respect policy” to deal with issues of bullying and harassment. Under that policy, complainants may only take cases to the parliamentary commissioner for standards once all internal resolution procedures have been followed. We need something different.”She is also concerned that the group is dominated by MPs, with parliamentary staff making up only two out of its 12 members.

Source: The Guardian November 15, 2017 19:50 UTC