JEREMY Corbyn has vowed to “reach out” to any alienated female Labour MPs and show them he is “serious” about defeating the Tories at a general election if he wins the leadership contest.
Mr Corbyn made the pledge to try to win over his opponents within the Parliamentary Labour Party as he launched a variety of policies aimed at achieving equality for women. Mr Corbyn is locked in a fierce battle for the party leadership with Owen Smith and Wednesday marked his latest attempt to win the support of members.
He set out plans to commit Labour to undertake a regular gender audit of party policies and to consult on the setting up of a Women’s Advisory Board, which will help ensure decisions made by the party’s leadership better reflect and meet the needs of women from across society.
He also promised to look at strengthening the law to crack down on sexual harassment and threats made online and to increase women’s representation in society and democracy by supporting all-women short-lists to achieve equal representation in Parliament and a similar aim for all public offices.
When asked at Unison headquarters how he intended to win over any alienated female Labour MPs, he said: “I want to reach out to all members of the Labour Party and all members of the parliamentary party.
“I will send them all copies of the policies that we have put forward including this document we are putting forward this evening and try and show to them that we are serious about developing policies, we are serious about the inclusion of everyone within the Labour Party and the Labour movement in this whole project because that is the only way in which we can successfully take on the Tories in a general election.”
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