Labour’s plans to protect women will change lives for the better

Editorial: The opposition proposes new protections for whistleblowers who report the bullying or sexual harassment of women in the workplace

Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, will oversee the proposals (PA)

If we take Labour’s priorities on Sir Keir Starmer’s terms, his “mission” to halve violence against women is a welcome aspiration. It is less a quantifiable target than a statement of intent, and as such it is the right approach for a party that is increasingly a government in waiting.

We report today that Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, plans new protections for whistleblowers who report the bullying or sexual harassment of women in the workplace. For all the progress that has been made towards sex equality over the decades, and for all the gains of the MeToo movement in the past few years, it remains depressingly common that women are belittled, harassed and assaulted by men at work.

Every time such things are reported in the media – and these are usually only the most shocking cases – the circumstances are similar: women felt that they could not complain without putting their job at risk, or that there was no one independent of their employer through whom they could defend themselves.

One of the most striking recent cases was a survey of female surgeons, which found that one in three reported having suffered harassment or assault from male colleagues in the past five years. Most said that they had not said anything because they feared that it would damage their careers.

Ms Thornberry’s proposals are modest enough: to extend the law on whistleblowers, which currently protects employees reporting threats to people’s safety or possible miscarriages of justice, so that it covers cases of harassment and assault. But incremental, credible and well-considered changes to the law are preferable to grand schemes and new bureaucracies.

Which is why it is also sensible for Ms Thornberry to take advice from well-qualified experts such as Marina Wheeler KC, who has 20 years of experience dealing with employment disputes in the courts. Ms Wheeler told The Independent that she was “delighted to be working with Emily Thornberry to help formulate solutions – including law reform where necessary – to encourage women to come forward, trusting that they will not be penalised for having done so”.

Of course, Ms Wheeler’s role will attract some attention because she is the former wife of Boris Johnson, the former prime minister. There is no harm in that, from Labour’s point of view, because it helps underline the increasing expectation that there will be a Labour government, and the growing authority of its would-be ministers. It is a rather upmarket form of celebrity endorsement.

Ms Thornberry has shown some skill at this kind of politics. She has also recruited Nicola Thorp, a former Coronation Street actor, as an adviser on Labour’s plans to offer greater protection against online stalkers. Ms Thorp, who was subjected to a two-year ordeal by a stalker, has been campaigning for the law to be changed so that victims know the identity of their harasser if they are arrested.

Again, this is a modest change that could make a significant difference to many women’s lives. And again, this is exactly what a responsible party of opposition should be doing. Sir Keir is right to set the broad priorities, and Ms Thornberry has done well to follow through with detailed legislative proposals – and particularly ones that do not require large public spending commitments. If she uses famous people to help get the message across, that is effective politics.

Some people have complained that the Labour Party has not set out in enough detail what it stands for. Others have cautioned, rather cynically, that the opposition should avoid setting out its stall in case the government steals its best ideas. The Independent is with the first group, and congratulates Ms Thornberry on setting out some good proposals. If the government copies them, so much the better: that is an effective opposition doing its job. If it does its job well enough, it might be entrusted with the responsibility of government.

More of this kind of thing, please.