Police Commissioners line up to warn of Stonewall threat

An increasing number of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are publically criticising LGBT lobby group Stonewall.

The Commissioners for Suffolk, Dorset, and Wiltshire and Swindon are among a growing number who have raised concerns over the group’s influence on policing.

They follow remarks from fellow PCC Lisa Townsend of Surrey, who last month said Stonewall was “a threat to women”.

‘Plain wrong’

Currently, around half of police forces in England and Wales pay upwards of £2,500 plus VAT to the lobby group for advice, which legal experts have said “misrepresents” equality law.

Tim Passmore, the PCC for Suffolk, told the ConservativeHome website that he had given instructions to his finance department to stop funding the group.

“Using taxpayers’ money for supporting political organisations such as Stonewall is at best misguided and in my opinion, plain wrong.”

He was joined by Dorset’s David Sidwick, who said the police “should uphold the law without fear or favour and therefore should not subscribe or support lobby groups with agendas” such as Stonewall.

‘Agenda’

Stonewall has been pushing for the removal of single-sex spaces in recent months, including toilets and hospital wards.

Philip Wilkinson of Wiltshire and Swindon said these actions were not in line with the wishes of “the vast majority of women in this country”, adding that he would “not support any organisation that promotes such a narrow and exclusive agenda”.

He also warned that such an agenda would alienate potential recruits to the police, adding: “If we claim to be inclusive and wish to recruit the very best individuals, we cannot adopt practices that positively encourage intolerance”.

Biology matters

Last month, Surrey’s PCC Lisa Townsend launched a blistering attack on Stonewall over its promotion of radical gender ideology.

She called the organisation “a threat to women” for claiming that men who self-identify as female should be allowed in women-only spaces, and that it “does no-one any good to pretend that biology doesn’t matter”.

Townsend said that when speaking to victims of domestic abuse and those that support them, “one thing that comes through every time is how terrified they are of being forced to admit males. “These services are life-saving, and to many of the women who use them it is vital they stay single-sex.”

She was quickly supported by Donna Jones, the PCC for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Marc Jones of Lincolnshire, and Rupert Mathews, who serves as the PCC for Leicestershire.