Boris Johnson refuses to make misogyny a hate crime

Prime minister Boris Johnson will not make misogyny a hate crime as he said it would overload the police force.

Speaking on BBC breakfast yesterday Boris Johnson was asked about the current campagin to make misogyny a hate crime. He said the police should be focusing on real crimes and by including misogyny as a hate crime it would overload the force.

He said: “Rather than introducing new laws, what you need to do is enforce the existing laws.

“To be perfectly frank, if you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do, you’ll just increase the problem.

“What you need to do is get police to focus on the very real crimes, the very real feeling of injustice and betrayal that many people feel.”

Boris Johnson went onto say violence against women is the number one priority in policing. He suggests the way to change the culture is by hiring more female poilce officers nad have them in higher up positions in the force.

He said: “One of the best ways you can see that change happen is make sure that you have more female police officers.

“In the Met now you are now running at 40 per cent. That is a good thing. I want to see those officers progress up the ranks and attain senior positions and change the culture.”

Many campaigners are arguing for misogyny to become a hate crime following the deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. Campaigners claim making misogyny a hate crime would give women more confidence to report incidences of public harassment.

As it stands the law recognises hate crimes for race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity.

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