Keighley and Ilkley MP Ann Cryer has been singled out in the Commons for her courageous stance on women’s issues.

She received the accolade from Solicitor-General Vera Baird, who said: “Mrs Cryer is much praised by all, and rightly so. She has taken steps to celebrate and champion the rights of women that could have made her extremely unpopular, but she did not hesitate to take them.”

Earlier this month, Crown Prosecutor Director for London West Nazir Afzal said without Mrs Cryer’s efforts more women would have been forced to marry, including a girl as young as eight.

He said the tireless campaigning by the district MP had changed the lives of hundreds of women.