Shipley MP Philip Davies has been accused of attempting to block proposals aiming to help end violence against women.

The Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle, despite a the Conservative MP opposing the move during a 77-minute speech.

Philip Davies (Shipley), who has campaigned for Parliament to recognise International Men's Day and previously criticised "militant feminists", was accused of attempting to "filibuster" the SNP-sponsored draft law requiring the Government to ratify the Istanbul Convention.

He argued that it is "sexist" to say the focus should only be on violence against women, adding that he stands for "true equality" where all people are treated equally.

Mr Davies also said the SNP's Eilidh Whiteford had brought forward a Bill with a "worthy sentiment", adding that "morons on Twitter" would probably misinterpret opposition to it.

He was heckled by Labour MPs for the length of his speech, with Tory colleagues also questioning why he would not back the Bill.

After Mr Davies had finished, Labour's Thangam Debbonaire told the Commons: "That is 78 minutes that I believe I'm never going to get back."

But the SNP successfully moved a motion to curtail the debate before MPs gave the Bill a second reading by 135 votes to two, majority 133.

Mr Davies has developed a reputation for speaking at length against Private Members' Bills he disapproves of.

Some MPs believe they have a duty to oppose laws they view as poorly drafted even if they recognise the intention of them is worthy.

Opposition MPs and some Tories feared Mr Davies, who was recently selected to serve on the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, would contribute to the Bill's demise by his latest speech.

He labelled the Bill "pointless and wrong because not all victims are female and not all offenders are male".

Mr Davies said: "We should be bringing forward neutral legislation that seeks to help all victims of crime, men and women, and to punish all offenders, both men and women."

Earlier, the Tory backbencher also said: "I'm not aware of anybody who wants to argue that people should be violent towards women and girls, of course not.

"Because the title of the Bill is about 'combating violence against women' then it presumes as long as you support that premise you must support this particular Bill, and therefore if you oppose this Bill it means you must be in favour, as it follows, of violence against women and children.

"Now that's the kind of level of debate I'd expect from the morons on Twitter but I still live in hope that we might have better quality debate than that in this House, although my experience is it doesn't actually get much better normally."

Mr Davies said he has a "fundamental objection" to the premise that MPs only need to deal with violence against women.

The Bill will now progress to committee stage and faces a race against time to become law before the end of the parliamentary session.

It would require the Government to take all reasonable steps to make the UK compliant with the convention and require ministers to set out a timetable for ratification.

The Istanbul Convention was adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011, and while the UK has signed the convention it has not yet ratified it.

The Government has said it intends to ratify the convention, but has faced growing criticism for the fact that it has yet to do so.

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