Jeremy Corbyn ally faces furious backlash from female Labour MPs over women-only train carriages

An ally of Jeremy Corbyn is facing a backlash from female Labour MPs after calling for a consultation on introducing women-only train carriages.

Chris Williamson, the shadow fire and emergency services ministers, suggested that the policy - previously proposed by Jeremy Corbyn - should be revived. He was accused by female Labour MPs of "normalising" attacks on women and "taking feminist cues  from Saudi Arabia".

Mr Williamson highlighted British Transport Police figures showing that the number of sexual offences on trains has doubled in five years.

He said: “It would be worth consulting about it. It was pooh-poohed (when Jeremy Corbyn suggested it), but these statistics seem to indicate there is some merit in examining that.

“Complemented with having more guards on trains, it would be a way of combating these attacks, which have seen a very worrying increase in the past few years.

“I’m not saying it has to happen, but it may create a safe space. It would be a matter of personal choice whether someone wanted to make use of it.”

However Stella Creasy, a Labour MP, directly criticised Mr Williamson for making the suggestion on Twitter and said it would "normalise attacks".

She said that women should be safe wherever they sit.  She said: "Can we make all carriages safe for all passengers rather than restricting where we can go? It's not us, it's them honest… [It] doesn't keep women safe to restrict their movements - it normalises attacks. We need to be clear they (the attackers) are the problem, not women's seating plans."

Jess Phillips, another Labour MP, described it as an "absolutely terrible idea". She said: "It is essentially giving up on trying to prosecute assaults. If you take your feminist cues from Saudi Arabia you've gone wrong."

Nicola Sturgeon said that a series of tweets by Isabel Hardmen, a journalist, criticising the approach were "spot on".

Ms Hardman said: "We need to stop blaming women for every decision they take and actually take seriously men who think women deserve abuse.

"Until we change this, we are just accepting it as an inevitability that som men will rape and abuse women. Women only carriages won't stop this injustice. They will just make it seem we are accepting that it is always going to be part of society."