A Scottish National Party (SNP) frontbencher has suggested that subjecting all men in a given area to a 6 p.m. curfew if a woman is killed should be an option under discussion in the wake of Sarah Everard’s apparent murder.
“If the notion of a curfew on men because a very small few behave so badly is so abhorrent to you, stop for a second and think about all the times women have had their freedoms limited or been told to stay indoors because of a violent man,” said Hannah Bardell, the spokeswoman for the left-separatist party in the House of Commons, in comments reported by The Sunday Times.
“I don’t want anyone to have to stay inside because of the actions of a few — let’s not forget much of the violence against women occurs inside and at home — but we may well be at the stage where we need to discuss all the options, even the ones that sound a bit wacky.”
Breitbart London is not aware of the SNP ever proposing to apply such outlandish measures to other groups, for example Muslims in the wake of a radical Islamic terror attack. Indeed, it is possible that making such a proposal in Scotland could trigger a police investigation, as the SNP-led devolved government has now passed controversial new hate crime laws which make expression deemed as “stirring up” hatred against particular groups a crime, even if the comments are made in the home.
“The tragic murder of Sarah Everard has caused understandable outrage across the UK and prompted a national conversation about these deep-rooted issues,” said Annie Wells, a Scottish Conservative and Unionist party MSP, in response to Bardell.
“However, to propose that all men should be subject of a curfew is simplistic, divisive and misguided. No serious politician can sincerely propose that arbitrarily locking up half the population is sensible or realistic,” she added.
Legislation imposing a 6 p.m. curfew on all men in the wake of Sarah Everard’s apparent murder was first proposed by Green Party lawmaker Jenny Jones, aka Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, in the House of Lords.
Mark Drakeford, the leader of Wales’s devolved government, has also said that he would not rule out a curfew on men as a “temporary intervention” in a “crisis” in an interview with the BBC — but the Labour politician became angry when news outlets accurately reported these comments, insisting that such a move was not actually under consideration.
Leaving aside issues of civil liberties, the practicality of enforcing such a curfew seems dubious, particularly as the suspect in the Sarah Everard case is a police officer.
Having the streets policed entirely by women police officers from 6 p.m. is unlikely to be feasible.
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