BBC Question Time/Twitter
Comedian Rosie Jones said minorities do not feel safe in Britain during a conversation about violence against women on BBC Question Time.
Touching on the national debate which was reignited after the sentencing of Sarah Everard’s killer, Jones explained how she feels like neither Downing Street nor the police “care about my safety”.
Speaking on Thursday, the comic explained: “Talking about women’s safety in general, right now there’s a government inquiry and a met inquiry [into Everard’s killer] and I really feel like they are both PR stunts.
“I really don’t feel, as a woman, that either care about my safety.”
BBC host Fiona Bruce asked: “What would make you feel safe then, as you’re not happy about either of these inquiries?”
Jones pointed out: “They needed to do this before. And I feel like when we have got a government where Dominic Raab doesn’t even know what misogyny is, that is scary.”
She continued: “I’m a woman, but also as a disabled woman, I don’t feel safe at night.
“I don’t feel safe with police officers, and we need to get to a place where women – but also any minority, if you’re a woman, you’re disabled, if you’re in the LGBT spectrum, if you’re a person of colour – that fact is right now in the UK, they don’t feel safe, at home, at night, and that is a scary place to live in.”
Everard’s death back in March caused national outrage about protection towards women.
She was murdered by a then-serving police officer, who kidnapped her by putting her under false arrest for breaching lockdown rules.
People have subsequently called for reforms within the national police force, for the Met to vet all of their officers more thoroughly and for misogyny to be made into a hate crime.
After Question Time aired, Jones tweeted: ”As a gay, disabled woman living in the UK, I don’t feel safe.
“When will the government and the police support us?”
Jones also tweeted on Friday that she had received a substantial amount of “ableist abuse” after her appearance on Question Time.
She explained: “The sad thing is that I’m not surprised at the ableist abuse I’ve received tonight regarding my appearance on Question Time.
“It’s indicative of the country we live in right now.
“I will keep on speaking up, in my wonderful voice, for what I believe in.”
The sad thing is that I’m not surprised at the ableist abuse I’ve received tonight regarding my appearance on Question Time. It’s indicative of the country we live in right now. I will keep on speaking up, in my wonderful voice, for what I believe in.
— Rosie Jones (@josierones) October 8, 2021
