Bridget Phillipson has been fiercely shut down after accusing Reform and the Tories of “weaponising” violence against women in an attempt to “point score”.
Speaking to GB News, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary Joy Morrissey declared that women in Britain have been “silenced for too long” and “must be put first”.
Ms Phillipson has accused Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch of “weaponising violence against women for political point scoring”.
The Women and Equalities Minister has claimed Reform and the Tories “only talk about women’s safety when it comes to immigration, rather than tackling the wider problem”.
Her comments come as she prepares to open Labour’s women’s conference in Liverpool today, days after launching a new task force to tackle misogyny.
Hitting back at the remarks, Ms Morrisey told GB News that the accusation from Ms Phillipson is “a bit rich” given her lack of response to the concerns from the women in Piddington.
She said: “It’s a bit rich, given the fact that she hasn’t come and met the Piddington women who have voiced their concerns, who legitimately want to meet her.
“She voted against a national grooming gang’s inquiry in 2025, and raising this issue is not something that’s come out of thin air.
“We’ve seen an increase in rapes in in England and in Wales over the past 10 years. From 2016 it was at 35,000 and now it’s at 75,000. That’s a massive increase.
Joy Morrisey has hit back at Bridget Phillipson after accusing the right of politics of ‘weaponising’ violence against women
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GB NEWS / PA
“And the increase, which is really interesting in the statistics, is one third of those rapes recorded were for 18-year-olds and under. And the highest recorded rape numbers were for 14 year old girls. That is something that should be looked at.”
Ms Morrisey argued that she should be able to “speak up and protect women and girls” without being accused of “weaponising” the issue.
She said: “Quite frankly, I do not want to see another young woman raped by anyone under my watch as shadow and equalities minister. And why shouldn’t I speak up to protect women and girls?
“Weaponising is not what we’re doing, we’re raising something that the Labour Party has forced people to be silent on for generations.”
The Equalities Minister has claimed Reform and the Tories ‘only talk about women’s safety when it comes to immigration, rather than tackling the wider problem’
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PA
Ms Morrisey accused the Government of using “class warfare” against the concerns of for women’s safety when it comes to illegal migration.
She argued: “They’ve they’ve called us racists, and they’ve run out of people to call racist because they can’t just call the whole country racist. So now they’re calling the Piddington ladies racist, and they’re using class warfare. They have run out of excuses.
“We are talking about wanting our streets safe for women and for girls. We’re not asking a lot, and this has nothing to do with what party you’re in.
“I’m happy to work with her, but we need to tackle this issue. This is so important for our country and so important for for women across the UK.”
The shadow minister urged Ms Phillipson to “be serious” about the “real problem” facing Britain’s women and girls.
Ms Morrisey told GB News that Ms Phillipson must ‘put petty differences aside’ and ‘be serious’ about the issue
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GB NEWS
She told GB News: “I’m just sick of Labour holding us hostage by having us all canceled for the tweets that we say.
“But then when real women are being abused or raped on the streets by migrants who we know are from countries where sexual violence against women is common and they’re not doing anything.
“We have to ask, what is what is the focus of Labour? Do they want to just stay in their sort of Marxist ideological bubble, or do they actually want to tackle this problem?
“The reason why we need to put our party differences aside is because we need to put the women of this country first, and stop arguing and stop our petty differences and actually listen to what women are saying, because they’ve been silenced for far too long.”