During the Conservative party conference transport minister Claire Perry revealed that she was open to the idea of women only train carriages, in an effort to cut sex attacks on female passengers."They have introduced women only seating in Japan, because there is a particular problem of low level violence towards women in that country" she told the Tory conference in Birmingham.
A total of 1,117 sexual offences were reported to British Transport Police last year. A rise of more than twenty percent. Ms. Perry said she was meeting with officers to discuss the reason behind the rise in the crime rate on public transport.
She told delegates "How terrifying to be traveling home in a place where you should expect to be safe, and then become a victim of a crime. I am absolutely determined that on my watch things will change, whatever we have to do, we will do. We have to have an expectation of safety on our public transport."
The general election is set for May 7th 2015, and party leaders are becoming more vocal on headline issues. David Cameron has pledged his personal support for the N.H.S.(National Health Service). This will be at the heart of his campaign for a second term in office. He has promised to protect health spending if the Conservatives are re-elected. The tory leader announced his commitment to increase NHS spending each year in line with inflation.
Mr. Cameron made a similar promise before the 2010 election, and has frequently pointed out that Labours had announced plans to cut National Health Service spending, if it won the 2110 election. However, Labours are making planes to increase NHS spending by £2.5 billion, This is their centre piece of the 2015 election campaign.
Currently polls show Labours to be more trust worthy when it comes to protecting the health service, than the Conservatives.
In other news from the Conservative party conference, which is being held in Birmingham, The Home Secretary Theresa May announced a new drive to confront extremism, following the Trojan horse scandal.
She said "Here in the City of Birmingham, local people know the problem only too well. Because it was here that extremists infiltrated state schools and sought to impose a hard-line curriculum on children. School pupils were told about the dangers of" White prostitutes", the call to prayer was broadcast over loud speakers, music was banned, boys and girls were segregated, and trips to Saudi Arabia were arranged for Muslim only children. School inspectors also found a culture of bullying and intimidation".
The new counter measures would confront extremist and intolerant views. This would include racist and neo Nazi ideologies as well as religious extremism. Ms May stated "It is not just a problem in Birmingham.
Across the country there are concerns about the way Shari'ah law is being applied, the way women are told to live, and the intolerant attitudes show to people of different beliefs and ways of life. We must not sleepwalk into separation, segregation and sectarianism."
The Trojan horse scandal was a campaign by school governors to impose a hard line religious ethos on secular state schools in Birmingham. A series of investigations found that a group of likeminded people had worked together to take control over schools and drive out head teachers who opposed them.