6/15/18
LONDON — A cross-party bill to make the taking of photos up women's skirts a criminal offence has been blocked by two Conservative MPs. The bill, which is backed by both the government and opposition parties, seeks to make upskirting a criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison. However, two Tory MPs, Philip Davies and Christopher Chope, spent several hours on Friday speaking in the House of Commons in a successful attempt to talk out the bill. Under archaic parliamentary rules, MPs are able to block bills brought forward by backbench MPs on Friday sessions if the debate extends beyond 2.30pm. Once the 2.30 deadline passed, MPs were asked whether they objected to the bill continuing its route through parliament after which Chope replied "object" thereby delaying its passage until July at the earliest.
"Upskirting is a depraved violation of privacy. It is outrageous that a single Member of Parliament has today been able to derail a much needed and universally supported change in the law." Both Chope and Davies have a long history of talking out backbench bills. In the past, they have talked out bills on everything from an attempt to give carers free hospital parking, to a bill designed to protect tenants from being unfairly evicted. In an interview with Business Insider in 2016 Davies said that he was only doing his job by delaying such bills. "That's the method we have in the rules," he said. "I don't set the rules but if you believe that a piece of legislation is bad and you want to block it then you've got to use the method that the rules allow to block it." Davies and Chope were condemned by MPs from across the Commons, including by some of their Conservative colleagues.
