this great city was the birthplace of one of the icons of the movement, emmeline pankhurst. near the pankhurst ‘s. a statue of emmeline pankhurst ‘s. a statue of emmeline pankhurst will be erected in this city as a lasting tribute to her courage and commitment. as leader of the conservative party and that co—founder of women to win which works to encourage more women to stand for public office, i'm proud that emmeline pankhurst was one of our pioneers. being selected as the conservative candidate for an east london constituency in 1928. we don't have nearly enough monuments to the women of this country's past and i'm pleased we are beginning to set that right. today we celebrate a huge and irreversible step towards creating a truly universal democracy and the beginning of a representative public debate. but i also want to take this opportunity to reflect on the nature of our public life today. as we remembered the heroic campaigners of the past who fought to include the voices of all citizens in our public debate we should consider the values and principles that guide our wo

its leader was emmeline pankhurst. 0ur correspondent elaine dunkley looks back at her legacy.the banner has the message on it... emmeline pankhurst led a group of women, notoriously resilient in their quest for votes, on a course that would shock the world and radically change democracy in britain. in the representation of the people act 1918, there was notjust some women who won the vote, it was all men as well, who were able to vote and the electorate tripled in that time. so, it's incredible that the people who are able to vote now were working class men and working—class people. working—class women of course still couldn't do that, but that would have radically changed what was being talked about in parliament at that time. the suffragettes used extreme methods to promote their cause. they felt words hadn't worked and used a wave of violence and vandalism as a way of making their political voice heard. there is a fall. in 1913, emily davison died after running into the path of the king's horse at the epsom derby as part of the protest. today, the prime minister was in manc

just after the turn of the 20th century the women‘s social and political union was formed by emmeline pankhursts began using hunger strikes as a form of protest. they wanted the government to acknowledge the crimes for which they had been jailed as political acts. the start of the first world war in1914 acts. the start of the first world war in 1914 lead to the suspension of all politics including the suffragette campaign. then on the 6th of february 100 years ago today the representation of the people act was passed allowing men aged over 21 and some women aged over 30 to vote. 0ne and some women aged over 30 to vote. one year later nancy astor became the first woman to take a seat in parliament. she won a by—election in the constituency of plymouth sutton replacing her husband as mp. in 1928 equal franchise act allowed women over 21 to vote come increasingly number of women eligible to vote to 15 million and finally gave women the same voting rights as men. tonight hundreds of women are gathering at westminster hall to celebrate the centenary. throughout the day bbc news has been speaking to

it was noisy and sometimes violent as well, women like emmeline pankhurst used to come here and standedible that women, even to watch proceedings in malls of common tag, had to watch it behind these grills, they had to peer through, they said it was smelly and dark and disgusting. they chained themselves to those in protest. the grills were removed, and around the house of commons here in the central lobby they are now adorning the windows around here. it definitely was a place where they came off, they were blacklisted and eventually banned from coming here for 11 years until it all changed. this rather remarkable act of parliament was brought in, it is on display here today in central lobby. we normally don't see it. it's incredibly precious, of course. we normally don't see it. it's incredibly precious, of coursem is many inches thick, it's worth pointing out. this was for men as well as women, it wasn't all women, but it did make a big difference, of course. in terms of where we are today, theresa may might not do this in her speed and a little while, this is not just in her speed

emmeline pankhurst, along with her daughter christabel, founded the women‘s social and political unionlike a mad idea then. and i think it took a long time, that‘s why the campaign was so long, because they had to change people attitudes towards women and what they could do. and shouting at politicians, all unprecedented behaviour. some were arrested. but rather than pay a fine, they were sent to prison. but their protest didn‘t stop there. some of those locked up refused to eat, whilst others on the outside continued the violence, vandalising churches and burning down buildings. they said, there‘s a suffragette round the corner speaking. so, i went round the corner and i thought myself, this woman is talking sense. when i actually joined, i went to an open—air meeting and heard the speaker say, lunatics, criminals, paupers and women may not vote. well, i hadn'tjoined before then although all of my instincts had been that way, but ijoined them and then. they were charming women who were in it, and they were absolutely smothered with eggs, rotten tomatoes, and you never saw anything lik

perhaps the most famous among them, emmeline pankhurst. return. suffragettes were on the streets, ringing bells, summoning people out of their homes, somebody grabbed a kitchen chair as a makeshift grabbed a kitchen chair as a ma keshift rostru m grabbed a kitchen chair as a makeshift rostrum and emmeline pankhurst climbed the top. enough is enough, you know, time for deeds, not words. this was the message that inspired women up and down the country, ordinary women like alice hawkins in leicester, a mother of six who worked in a shoe factory. that is what drove alice fulwood, she wanted equal pay and the vote was the route to getting that. everyone that went off one of these? five times her great—grandmother was jailed. they still have her hunger strike medal, her prison badge, the sash she wore on every protest. never before spending days baking in the kitchen, making sure herfamily would be fed if she were arrested. if they were going to protest that was a chance to be arrested, not only be arrested but imprisoned, and so they anticipate

perhaps the most famous among them, emmeline pankhurst. ery room. here, the suffragette movement was born and here, in december, emmeline will return. suffragettes were on the streets, ringing bells, summoning people out of their homes. somebody grabs a kitchen chair as a makeshift rostrum and the 5—foot emmeline climbs atop. "enough is enough", you know, "time for deeds, not words". this was the message which inspired women up and down the country — ordinary women like alice hawkins in leicester, a mother of six who worked in a shoe factory. that's what drove alice forward — she wanted equal pay and the vote was the route to getting that. everybody that went on a hunger strike got one of these? from 1909. absolutely right. five times, their great—grandmother was jailed. they still have her hunger strike medal, her prison badge, the sash she wore on every protest. but never before spending days baking in the kitchen, making sure her family would be fed if she were arrested. if they were going to protest, where was a chance to be arrested —

pleased yesterday to have an opportunity to meet helen pankhurst, the great granddaughter of emmeline pankhurstagettes from my late godmother, whose mother was a suffragette and both of whose pa rents suffragette and both of whose parents knew the pankhurst family. he raises the issue of police numbers and crime. what we actually have seen from the crime survey is that crime is now down at record low levels. that is what has been achieved and it has been achieved by a conservative government that at the same time has been protecting police budgets. jeremy corbyn. mr speaker, recorded crime is up by a fifth since 2010. violent crime is up fifth since 2010. violent crime is up by fifth since 2010. violent crime is up by 20% and during the period the prime minister was home secretary, £2.3 billion was cut from police budgets. her majesty ‘s inspectorate of constabulary warns neighbourhood policing risks being eroded and the shortage of detectives is at a national crisis. does the prime minister think the inspectorate is scaremongering? the right honourable gentleman mentions the issue about record

we'll be there after 9am when we'll be hearing from helen pankhurst, great granddaughter of emmeline pankhurstt almost 57 years ago, yet she has always found a way to work in order to supplement her father's wage but to still be at home and meet them at the school gate. it means the jobs were paid less and had lower status, but her mum was extremely bright and did a brilliant job of bringing them up. the point we are making, this is 100 yea rs the point we are making, this is 100 years since the first woman got the votes, not all women got the votes them. selina talked a little bit earlier and mentioned head teacher at saint luke's secondary school. she was a force for change and inspired me, i ama force for change and inspired me, i am a teacher and hope to be as effective at encouraging others as she was. i will never forget her. we talked about how different it is what mps in parliament and how much that has changed over the years, how they are treated and all the rest. we will speak to amber rudd later. lots of men have got into edge about women who have inspired them. steve says the woman