Overview

• Kennedy says she faced “horrific” online abuse after the Southport murders, describing uniquely personal attacks directed at senior women in public life.
• She rejects claims of two-tier policing as “absolute rubbish” and says officers acted against criminals during disorder that included an attack on a mosque, citing reports of an organised far-right element.
• She criticises Reform UK’s vow to scrap equality and diversity policies as “ludicrous”, warning that abandoning this work would deepen confidence gaps for women and minority communities.
• On transparency, she says CPS advice prevented disclosing Axel Rudakubana’s religion at the charging stage, welcomes NPCC and College of Policing guidance on when to share ethnicity or nationality, and notes that confirming a suspect as white and British after May’s Liverpool parade crash did not stop online falsehoods.
• She condemns Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s comments about female officers as “furious” and says policing still needs progress toward a 50:50 gender split as Rob Carden takes over on 1 September.