Lord Harper (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 12 October 2026

Debate

Contribution

I am always happy to support a colleague. More seriously, the story that the noble Baroness recounted makes a very good point. It may not be 100% true but it is almost invariably true that violence against women and girls is perpetrated by men. There was the kernel of a very solid point in there about educating men to behave differently, but also encouraging people, when they see bad behaviour on the rail network, to do something about it. That does not mean that everyone should intervene themselves, because that can itself be dangerous, but they should do something, such as draw it to somebody’s attention or report it to the British Transport Police. I must be one of the few people who thinks “See it. Say it. Sorted.” and the number are a good thing because you can remember them, which is the point. The noble Baroness made a solid point. The Government should perhaps reflect on how we can educate everybody to behave in a way that makes women and girls, disabled people and people from Black and minority ethnic communities feel safer and therefore be more likely to use the train than they would otherwise.

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