MPs react in Parliament to scathing Casey report on 'racist, misogynist and homophobic' Met Police
The Metropolitan Police should be abolished, a Conservative MP has said after a scathing review found Britain’s largest police force was institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic.
Matthew Offord, MP for Hendon, told the Commons: “The immediate political acceptance of Baroness Casey’s report demonstrates that nothing has changed since the publication of the Macpherson Report 24 years ago and many think the report in itself is a panacea to change.
“Does the Home Secretary not agree with me it’d be more effective to abolish the Metropolitan Police Service, transfer the specialist operations to the remit of the Home Office and establish a police service for London to focus solely on the maintenance of law and order?”
Ms Braverman replied: “I don’t agree that we must abolish the Metropolitan Police Service.
“I think we need to institute a wide-ranging and profound programme of reform and that’s why I think Sir Mark [Met Commissioner] is absolutely right in his turnaround plan, which deals with specifically the systemic problems, the problems now which are unfortunately not new but of which we are all aware need root-and-branch reform.”
Claims that fixing the Met’s problems with misogyny will take many years are not good enough, a Conservative former minister added.
Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price criticised the misogyny faced by serving female police officers from their male colleagues, telling MPs: “That is simply unacceptable that such behaviour is normalised in the service that is supposed to keep us safe.”
Addressing the Home Secretary, she added: “Can I just say to her, if she is serious about tackling violence against women and girls, it simply isn’t adequate to come to this despatch box and say it will take many years to fix the problems within the Met.”
Suella Braverman replied: “I agree with her that we need to make progress on improving protection and results for victims of rape and serious sexual offences. That is why we have instituted a programme of reform when it comes to the investigation or prosecution of rape.”
Reports of a refrigerator containing rape case evidence breaking down while in the Met Police’s care are “shocking and unacceptable”, the Home Secretary said.
Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Catherine West told the Commons: “How can it be that an individual who is raped and the advice is to keep the specimens in a refrigerator, and during a hot spell last summer the refrigerators broke down and there was no back up plan – how can that be? What is she going to do to every victim whose evidence was in that refrigerator?”
Suella Braverman replied: “That particular incident which to which she refers is shocking and unacceptable and must not happen… that must not happen again.”
Elsewhere in the session, Liberal Democrat Munira Wilson (Twickenham) said: “Londoners confidence in the Met Police will be utterly shattered by the horrors and systemic failures revealed in Baroness Casey’s report.
“And I dare say, the party political point-scoring that we’re hearing particularly from the despatch box will not help.”
Labour MP Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) said: “Without wholesale reform it will be impossible to rebuild trust and confidence in our communities in London.
“My constituents in Battersea deserve a force that they can trust. So will the Home Secretary end the postcode lottery in place of standards by implementing national standards on vetting, on misconduct, and training?”
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