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Labour MP challenges Piers Morgan over International Women’s Day tweet

Stella Creasy also mentioned BBC presenter John Humphrys, as she said women should feel confident to speak out over equal pay.

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Stella Creasy speaking in the Commons in the debate to mark International Women’s Day (Parliament TV)

A Labour MP has urged Piers Morgan to become an ally in the fight for female equality.

Stella Creasy raised the Good Morning Britain host in the Commons over a tweet he posted to mark International Women’s Day.

In the tweet Mr Morgan highlighted six key posts held by women, adding that “in Britain, women rule”.

Walthamstow MP Ms Creasy said: “We know this country continues to fail what I’m now going to name the Piers Morgan test.

“Because Piers Morgan this morning tweeted that because we had six women in positions of responsibility in this country, the country is run by women. Job done. We can all go home.

“The point is these women are still too often the exception, rather than the rule. That’s why we can name them.

“True equality will come because there are so many women from so many different backgrounds in our society that it’s just the norm, and the truth is that we’re not anywhere near the norm.”

Ms Creasy said just 11% of surgeons and 17% of council leaders were female, as were 34% of senior members in the press.

Only 1,200 companies out of 9,000 had declared data on their gender pay gap, she added.

She also raised issues such as low pay for women and period poverty, adding: “All too often, women are trying to pick up the pieces of a failing economy in an institutionally unequal society.

“What does that mean? It means that women themselves are often the ones trying to make the difference, and it’s the men who simply, like Piers Morgan, say ‘Well I’ve seen one of you, so come on, if one of you can do it, all of you can do it’.”

Ms Creasy went on to say she was proud to see male MPs in the chamber speaking on the subject as men had a “vital role to play” in addressing things such as violence against women.

She added: “As we’ve all tried to remind Piers Morgan, this is not all men that we think are violent.

“It’s about standing up for the reputation of men and the better world that men and women working together as equals can create that we ask you now to be our allies and to show solidarity with.”

The Andrew Marr Show
Piers Morgan tweeted ‘in Britain, women rule’ (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA)

“We also as a House have got to speak up for the right to talk about equal pay, because as we’ve seen with the BBC, when women start asking questions, they get shut down,” Ms Creasy said.

“It is a fundamental human right for freedom of speech in your workplace. The legislation relies on the idea that we can start to have these conversations.

“We must not give an inch on the idea that it is acceptable for managers to tell employees that if they start asking those questions, they’ll be labelled difficult, that it might harm their chances of promotion.

“What we might call the John Humphrys test.”

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