MP Charlotte Nichols says Labour not acting on sexual misconduct

Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols

A Labour MP has accused her party of "choosing not to act" on allegations of sexual misconduct by its MPs.

Charlotte Nichols said Labour's hierarchy knew about allegations against current MPs, but "can't even keep our own house in order".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World At One, she said there was an "underlying absolutely rotten culture at Westminster" around sexual misconduct.

Labour said the party would "swiftly and fully investigate" any allegations.

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Ms Nichols said the party had to be "shamed" into suspending Swansea West MP Geraint Davies after allegations that he subjected younger female colleagues to unwanted sexual attention were published by the Politico news website.

"It was damage limitation from the party's point of view," the Warrington North MP added.

"But they have known about this sort of behaviour - not just from him, but from others as well - for a very long time. And they have chosen not to act," she said.

Mr Davies has said he does not recognise the allegations, but added: "If I have inadvertently caused offence to anyone, then I am naturally sorry."

Under questioning, Ms Nichols said her party's response to allegations against a frontbench Labour MP who was accused of sexually assaulting a female MP had been "been utterly inadequate".

The case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police, which announced in May it had ended its inquiry "at the victim's request".

'Political point scoring'

In a statement responding to Ms Nichol's interview, Labour said it "would strongly urge anyone with a complaint to come forward so that allegations can be swiftly and fully investigated and action taken.

"The party has ensured that there is a wide range of support available to complainants, to provide confidence and confidential guidance throughout the disciplinary process."

Ms Nichols said that when she first entered Parliament in 2019, she was "fairly shocked" to be given a verbal list of 30 MPs to avoid by a Labour official

"People I was told to do everything I could to make sure that I wasn't alone with, to never accept a drink from, to not get in a lift with," she said.

"People that their bad behaviour is so widely known, and so little action has been taken about this, that really it's left to individuals to try to keep themselves safe as far as possible by staying out of the orbit of these people."

Ms Nichols said claims of sexual impropriety were used as "political point scoring" by Westminster parties, including her own.

"When we can't even keep our own house in order, it is really upsetting both on a personal and political level, because we can and should be better."