Doncaster MP Nick Fletcher calls for a ‘Minister for Men’ at Conservative conference

The Don Valley representative gave a speech on Tuesday during the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.

He said: “I believe that if we help men and boys, then by helping half the population we actually help the other half of the population too. We’ve all got men in our lives, and if we’ve got good men in our lives then society is so much better.

“13 men will commit suicide today. 75 percent of suicides are men, which is a terrible statistic. Life expectancy of men is 3.7 years lower than it is for women. Men are more likely to die of cancer and covid. 83 percent of rough sleepers are men […] 96 percent of the prison population is men.

“Now if these were statistics for any other characteristics we would be saying “what the heck is going off here?” and this is why I believe it’s so important that we have a minister for men. It would take an overarching holistic look at all the departments that government form and work with each of these.

“Health issues – the heat, alcohol, smoking, obesity, all these issues do affect men more than they affect women. Why is this happening? Why are men turning to the fridge? Why are men smoking? And I think as a country, as a government, we are continually looking at the cure for something rather than the prevention for it.

“44 percent of children are from broken families where they’re living at home with mum, doing all she can but a young boy will have no male role model at home.

“For a young boy to see his dad treat his mum properly and talk to women properly then we won’t need the CCTV, the extra police and all these other things.”

The position of Minister for Women was created in 1997 however was cut by PM Liz Truss and replaced with the wider role of Minister for Equalities which is held by a man, Nadhim Zahawi.

The full Minister for Men panel can be seen here: Equi-law fringe meeting: ‘The Case for a Minister for Men’. – YouTube