Ruth Jones MP for Newport West will be voting against the U.K. Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill following a peaceful vigil which was held in memory of Sarah Everard and Wenjing Lin and all women who have been victims of violent acts committed by men.

On Saturday Ruth Jones attended the vigil that took place at the Wave in Newport and announced, “For women to feel safe on the streets, it’s not about them having to change their behaviour or appearance, it’s about educating men on how they should behave. It’s not about protecting our daughters; it’s about educating our sons. If education doesn’t work, then we need better deterrents.”

It was reported that the vigil was a peaceful and orderly event with everyone obeying the social distancing rules. Women in Newport and across the U.K. came together to pay their respects and demonstrated their rights to protest against the violence against them.

This week, Ruth Jones with the Labour Party will be voting against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which gives the Police more powers to crack down on free expression and the right to protest. Additionally, Labour is calling on the U.K. Government to make misogyny a hate crime in order to effectively tackle violence against women and girls.

“Instead of causing more division by cracking down on the right to protest, the Government should be working with the Judiciary to increase the minimum sentences for rapists and stalkers so that these sentences are proportionately longer than those that are served for damage to a statue.”