Sadiq Khan has been accused of ignoring the concerns of women in London, with an activist criticising his recently published strategy to tackle violence against women as "lazy".
Georgie Clarke, 31, who is campaigning for more to be done to tackle sexual violence, told GB News that she felt "infuriated" by the lack of action after she was the victim of sexual assault on the tube in London.
Last week, Khan published a strategy to put women and girls "directly at the centre of decision-making" around their safety. If he is re-elected as London Mayor following the elections on May 2, he said he will trial "women's safety audits" at five locations to allow women to share their "lived experiences" of travelling around London to influence decisions over local police action plans and the design of Tube and bus stations.
But Clarke hit out at the plan, describing it as a "very lazy way to ensure he does not promise anything".
Last week, Khan published a strategy to put women and girls "directly at the centre of decision-making" around their safety
PA
Accusing him of being "half-hearted" in his attempt to protect women, she said: "His plan is to do a women's safety audit, which is basically research. You've done eight years as Mayor of London and you need to do more research? It's basically a very lazy way to ensure he does not promise anything, any actions, any change, because he can say, well, I was doing research. Eight years? You should have done enough research."
Clarke was travelling to a work event at around 6pm in the evening in October 2021, during daylight hours, when she was harassed and subsequently assaulted by a man on the tube.
She claimed that when she reported the incident to a member of TfL staff, they failed to take a statement from her or her witness and let the accused man back into the station.
Speaking to GB News about her experience, she said: "It took around three stops before a guy intervened and helped me. When he walked me out and escorted me out to TfL, the guy was actively pursuing us and still following."
When she reported it to TfL, Clarke claims they simply handed her a leaflet and failed to tell her that the CCTV footage would be automatically deleted after 72 hours - meaning her evidence was destroyed.
The activist said: "In that moment, they really let me down because they didn't get my witness' information, because he could have given a first account of what happened and what he'd seen.
"They didn't get a first account from me. They didn't put me in a room somewhere to say, 'let's just get you away from the person who's trying to assault and harass you'. And they let him back into the station. Within a week he assaulted three other women."
Clarke, who works as an influencer, said she received an influx of messages from women on social media after she shared her experiences. She told GB News she wrote to Khan repeatedly in the years after the incident, but received no response.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the 31-year-old said it turned her into a "recluse". She explained: "You feel absolutely violated. You feel like there's nothing in place to help you feel safer. I didn't leave my flat, I didn't get on the tube for about six weeks to be honest. And that meant paying for taxis or driving wherever I could, which is expensive."
Clarke also ended up going on antidepressants in the wake of the assault, adding that it has left her with a "lifetime of making different choices".
She said: "The fear of it all, it's like a darkness came over me and I realised that I lived in a city where, even though I pursued this, I knew I wasn't going to get the sentencing that was fair and it was just really emotionally taxing to be honest.
"Obviously, as time has gone on, I've managed to get back on the tube and travel, but it's left me with a lifetime of making different choices for myself to in order to feel safe. And that's the part that really irks me: it's so expected of women to disrupt their lives en masse due to male violence against women. It would just be so unheard of for the same connotation to be put on men - the idea that men would have to completely disrupt their lives because women are unsafe."
She added: "The blame is somehow always put back onto women to disrupt our lives in order to feel safer."
Clarke, who describes herself as being apolitical on many issues, has thrown her weight behind Conservative candidate Susan Hall's plan to keep women safe - which involves the creation of a 'women's commissioner' who would work with Londoners to create a women’s safety strategy.
The plan also involves ensuring each borough has Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) specialist officers, as well as working with the Government to increase British Transport Police (BTP) officers on the London transport network.
Hall has also pledged to expand the rollout of CCTV on London underground carriages.
Speaking about the plan, Clarke said: "It's about identifying, it's documenting, and it's definitely going to deter perpetrators from harassing and assaulting."
She added: "I do believe that the women's commissioner is a great idea because I know that there are victims who want to share... but I think there needs to be an active person in place that works under the Mayor of London who oversees all of this and is meeting with people and being a bit more hands-on with it. It's impossible for us to expect the Mayor of London to be able to oversee all of that."
A spokesperson for the London Mayor told GB News: "There is a national epidemic of violence against women and girls which needs to be treated urgently. Sadiq has taken many steps during his time as Mayor, including investing £163 million in tackling violence against women and girls in London.
"Sadiq will be outlining a further package of measures in his manifesto to be published in the coming weeks.
"This election is a close two-horse race between Sadiq and an extreme Tory candidate, who has herself said she is not a feminist, and who suggested police misconduct against women should be dealt with behind closed doors and that such officers are only 'wrong ‘uns' or 'bad ‘uns'.
"The Tory government has imposed £1billion cuts on the Met with a devastating impact on the services that keep women safe."
Mandy McGregor, TfL’s Head of Transport Policing, said: "This was a shocking and distressing incident and we were in contact with Georgie at the time to apologise, discuss and learn from what happened to her.
"There is training for staff on how to handle sexual harassment incidents safely and compassionately, with protocols for reporting. We will not stand for this behaviour from offenders on our network.”
