Sarah Everard vigil: Cressida Dick says she will not resign amid growing anger over police actions

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live blog following the latest on the response to the police handling of a vigil organised for Sarah Everard last night. Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick is facing calls to resign over her department’s crackdown on the event.

Victoria Atkins, safeguarding minister, has said the Home Office has demanded a report on yesterday’s police crackdown on the vigil for Sarah Everard.

Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, she called the scenes from last night “very upsetting” and said Home Secretary Priti Patel was taking them seriously.

She said Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick had been asked to prepare a report on what unfolded last night.

Victoria Atkins, safeguarding minister, told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that police will have to “explain” a photo of officers holding a demonstrator who attended the vigil down on the ground.

However, she said: “Policing is difficult at the best of times.”

Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Victoria Atkins, safeguarding minister, said she believed that “this could be a moment of change”.

In the wake of Sarah Everard’s death, there has been a nationwide discussion around male violence towards women. She said the discussion that is unfolding could prompt change.

She further noted that the scenes from last night’s vigil were “not what anybody wanted”.

Labour's shadow domestic violence minister, Jess Phillips, has said that street harassment should be made a crime.

Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday she said that the government is well aware of the issues of street harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence.

“We don’t need a survey. We can take action,” she said.

“We can change laws,” she asserted.

Labour’s shadow domestic violence minister, Jess Phillips, says police “missed the opportunity at every turn” to respond to the vigil for Sarah Everard in a positive way.

She said that Met police had already had a poor “reputation” in the area and that they needed “improvement before we show images of angry men on the backs of women”.

Ms Phillips further said she wished she’d had the “heavy hand of the law” when she was sexually assaulted.

Asked whether she believes Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick should step down, Ms Phillips said she did not want to “write the headline” that the Labour party was calling for such an action.

The government is failing women “in every single metric,” Labour shadow domestic violence minister Jess Phillips has said.

Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Ms Phillips said the government has a “responsibility” to educate boys and girls early on to prevent sexual harassment and sexual violence.

The shadow domestic violence minister said as it stands, children are still being taught that “boys should be the ones to instigate sex” in some schools.

That needs to change, she said.

Victims’ commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird QC has questioned how the Met police’s actions last night helped to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Calling the police response “quasi-military”, the victims’ commissioner says the handling of the vigil for Sarah Everard was “a dreadful piece of misjudgment.”

“Are they really improving the chances of Covid not spreading byputting their knees in the middle of the backs of young women?”, she questioned.

Victims’ commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird QC says the situation for women in the UK has “got worse” when it comes to facing the threat of sexual harassment and assault.

Asked whether the situation has improved, the victims’ commissioner said: “I think things have got worse”.

Comparing the situation now to the 1970s, she said that women have continued to face threats to their safety and said it should not be up to women to call for an end to harassment and violence.

“It’s about men’s violence,” she said.

The British government needs to find the “political will” to address the “serious trouble” in the UK’s justice system, victims’ commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird QC has said.

Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, she said that the UK needed “active leadership” to address the pervasive issue of sexual harassment and assault against women.

“It’s about how active that leadership is, isn’t it? And how much it sees what is happening and how much it drives that agenda,” she said.

The victims’ commissioner said she believed government leaders had been “taken by surprise” by the “outpouring, indeed, the uproar” that has been sparked in the wake of Sarah Everard’s death.

Whether it represents a “turning point”, she said, will largely be up to the government.

“Very few people are prosecuted for sexual offences,” she said.