Agenda item - Supporting the Anti-Harassment Club

Joint motion proposed by Councillor Powell on behalf of the Green and Labour Groups.

54.1      The Notice of Motion as listed on the agenda was proposed by Councillor Powell on behalf of the Green and Labour Groups and formally seconded by Councillor Grimshaw.

54.2      Councillors Henry, Brennan and Simson spoke on the motion and expressed their support for the campaign.

54.3      Councillor Powell thanked the Members for their contributions and hoped that the motion would receive full council support.

54.4      The Mayor then put the motion as listed to the vote:

That this council recognises the work of the local organisation the Anti-Harassment Club to bring to light more than 120 testimonies of gender-based street harassment in Brighton & Hove since June 2020. We call on all Councillors to express their support for this important local campaign group and its message;

This Notice of Motion therefore:

·      Requests that the Chief Executive writes with urgency to Katy Bourne PCC, to request that, in line with a similar pilot undertaken by Nottinghamshire Police in 2016, that she commit to adopting a pilot ‘misogyny as a hate crime’ policy locally, in order to enable our city to:

-     collect the data necessary to understand and evaluate the prevalence and nature of public sexual harassment in our community;

-     utilise such data to understand the impact of this on our local community and how this can be addressed;

-     to establish work with partners to establish support for victims of public sexual harassment

And further requests that:

-   the Chief Executive writes to the government to request that misogyny is made a hate crime in England and Wales as part of an overhaul of legislation, as recently recommended by the Law Commission.

54.5      The Mayor called on each of the Group Leaders to confirm their position as well as the Groups in turn and each of the Independent Members:

Councillor Mac Cafferty stated that the Green Group were in favour of the motion and this was confirmed by the Members of the Green Group;

Councillor Platts stated that the Labour Group were in favour of the motion and this was confirmed by the Members of the Labour Group;

Councillor Bell stated that the Conservative Group were in favour of the motion and this was confirmed by the Members of the Conservative Group;

Councillor Brennan confirmed that she was voting for of the motion;

Councillor Fishleigh confirmed that she was voting for the motion;

Councillor Janio confirmed that he was voting for the motion;

Councillor Knight confirmed that she was voting for the motion.

54.6      The Mayor confirmed that the motion as amended had been carried unanimously.