On April 7th 2021 GRARG member ArtlessFeckleblossom posed a question for all the would be Police and Crime Commissioners standing for election on May 6th. Her letter is here.
Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers we were able to put these questions to the majority of the candidates across the country. We made it clear it was crucial for us to understand how each candidate saw the issue of ‘sex not gender’ and how this would impact on policing policies for dealing with violence against women and girls. We are going to consider some of the responses in more detail in later blog posts. This post is to give you the critical information NOW so you can use your vote wisely on May 6th. Which candidates believed that sex matters?
Sadly 4% of respondents didn’t reply. We don’t think this is acceptable from people who are standing for election and when there are frequent complaints that turn out for this important position is historically always low. 23% were ‘fence sitters’ – clearly too terrified to commit either way. Interestingly only 6% preferred ‘gender’ over ‘sex’ – 27% were able to tell us without equivocation that sex is real and it matters. This is heartening; we hope the tide is turning.
While it was good to see some candidates had clearly put a lot of thought into their responses, some had not. We will be putting the best of the worst responses to a public vote to see which candidate made the most cloth eared and bonkers response to our plea for recognition that #SexMatters.
Read all our blogs on this topic.
Vote here for the Gender Woo Woo Razzies – https://gcritical.org/2021/05/05/pccgenderwoo-razzies/
If you don’t respect my Sex – don’t expect my X – https://gcritical.org/2021/04/07/police-and-crime-commissioners/
On the Police Crime Commissioner Candidate Trail – https://gcritical.org/2021/05/03/on-the-police-crime-and-commissioner-candidate-trail/
GRARG’s Recommendations for #SexMatters
You can find out information on all the candidates via the Choose My Police and
Crime Commissioner – Information from the UK Government (choosemypcc.org.uk)
NB: the duties of Greater Manchester Police and Met Crime Commissioner were subsumed into the mayoralty and the PCC office itself abolished so no candidates are included here.
Guidance notes:
Where there is a Recommended candidate this is indicated, simply based on
what replies we received. It means they have answered our questions clearly
and are #SexNotGender though some candidates may need a little further
work. [NB: this does not mean the non-replying candidates are not gender
critical. Nor does it mean they aren’t prioritising VAWG, as some are].
Where we have said No Recommendations it is because the candidates did
not answer the questions properly/were fence-sitters or evasive.
Where there is no response from any Force candidate, this is noted.
Some candidates responded to say they recognised our important questions
and they would respond more fully – but haven’t done so in time for our
deadline. They are in our ’no replies’ category.
Where we received only 1 full reply but cannot recommend them, we have
summarised what they said.
We have recorded if we are recommending more than one #SexNotGender
candidate, or if there is a close runner up.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Recommendations: John Smith. Independent. @Johnsmith4pcc
Mark Shelford Conservative @shelfordmark
Bedfordshire Police
No recommendation.
Only the Lib Dem candidate Jas Parmar replied. @JasJasParmar4PCC
He said: Crime of misogyny should be recorded as hate crime. As father of three
daughters feels strongly about it. Says he wants to ensure ‘we are ground breaking
in fighting gender crime and bias ant not bystanders’ (sic).
Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Recommendation: Nicky Massey. Labour. @nmassey79
Cheshire Constabulary
Recommendation: Nick Goulding. Independent. @NickGoulding4
Cleveland Police
No responses
Cumbria Constabulary
Recommendation: Barbara Cannon. Labour. @BarbaraACannon
Derbyshire Constabulary
Recommendations: Tim Prosser. Reform UK. @prosser_timothy
Angelique Foster, Conservative
Devon & Cornwall Police
Recommendation: Gareth Derrick. Labour. @Gareh4Labour
Dorset Police
Recommendations: David Sidwick. Conservative @Sidwick4Dorset.
Patrick Canavan Labour & Co-operative Party Candidate agrees ‘sex matters’. @Patrick4PCC
Late response from Dan Hardy, Independent candidate. Gets points for being willing to engage and talk further but does appear to support self identification of sex.
Durham Constabulary
No responses
Dyfed-Powys
No responses
Essex Police
Recommendation: Chris Vince, Labour. @ChrisJVince
He says: Supports making misogyny a hate crime. Will work to provide a method of
reporting that women feel comfortable with so they are not frightened in coming
forward. Wants to make Deputy PCC role specifically focused on DV & VAWG.
Female suspects require dignity.
Gloucestershire Constabulary
Recommendation: Adrian Stratton. Independent. @AdrianGlos
NB Adrian has the unique distinction of being the recommended candidate for Glos but also featuring on our list of most strange and unusual comments .
Gwent
No recommendation.
Hampshire Constabulary
Donna Jones, Conservative – committed to recording sex accurately.
Hertfordshire Constabulary
No recommendation.
Humberside Police
No recommendation. Both Keith Hunter, Labour and Bob Morgan, Independent, replied evasively. Morgan refers to males who suffer dv and sexual violence.
Kent Police
No recommendation.
Lola Oyewusi, Labour @CllrLolaOyewusi, said: Generally the case that only female
officers search females. In relation to victims of crime it is not always feasible that
you can have the police officer of your own gender taking your statement. However,
she did not answer the question on Biological Sex.
Lancashire Constabulary
No responses.
Leicestershire Police
Recommendation: Ross Wilmot, Labour. @CllrRedRoss
Lincolnshire Police
No recommendation
Merseyside Police
Recommendation: Bob Teesdale, Conservative.
(NB. Needs some work – whilst against self-ID he’s too bound by ideas of
operational independence)
Norfolk Constabulary
Recommendations: John Crofts, Lib Dem
Michael Rosen, Labour. @mrpcc2021
Close runner up Giles Orpen-Smellie, Conservative.
He said: ‘Thank you for this thought-provoking email…in broad terms I agree with
what you say but some of this might fall into the Chief Constable’s area of
responsibility and some of this raises questions of resources’. Suggests meeting the
letter writer to prepare his case for the CC.
North Wales
No responses.
North Yorkshire Police
No responses.
Northamptonshire Police
No responses.
Northumbria Police
Recommendations:
Duncan Carlyle Crute, Conservative. @Duncan4PCC
Julian Richard Kilburn, Independent. @JulianKilburn
Nottinghamshire Police
No recommendation
South Wales
No replies.
South Yorkshire Police
Recommendation: Alan Billings, Labour
(NB. Needs some work as did not answer question on offence recording.)
Staffordshire Police
Recommendations: Tony Kearon, Labour. @CllrTonyK
Ben Adams, Conservative @BenAdamss4Staffs
Suffolk Constabulary
Recommendations:
Elizabeth Patricia Hughes, Labour
Andrew Patmore, Green
Surrey Police
Recommendation: Lisa Townsend, Conservative. @_Lisa_Townsend
Sussex Police
Recommendation: Roy Thomas Williams, Independent.
Thames Valley Police
Recommendation: Alan Robinson, Independent. @Policeless6
NB. Alan Robinson wants to remove Stonewall’s influence.
NB: Laetisia Carter, Labour @laetisiacarter engaged eventually but ambivalent about
sex/gender distinction though implied she may support recording by each separately.
VAWG is a priority. Has potential and wants to meet.
Warwickshire Police
Recommendations: Ben Twomey, Labour. @BenTwomeyUK
Henry Lu, Reform Party.
West Mercia Police
Recommendation: Peter Jewell, Reform UK.
West Yorkshire (Mayor, not PCC)
Recommendation: Therese Hirst, English Democrats. @ThereseHirst
West Midlands Police
Recommendation: Jools Hambleton, Independent. @votejulie2021
Wiltshire Police
Recommendations:
Brig Oubridge, Green Party
Liz Webster, Liberal Democrat @LizWebsterLD who engaged well and finally agreed that sex matters