MP Philip Davies said men and women should be treated the same when they commit a crime.

The Shipley member, whose constituency includes Denholme and Cullingworth, said a crime is the same regardless who committed it and there is no justification for treating people differently based on their sex.

Speaking during a debate in Parliament on International Men’s Day, he said: “The focus solely on women and girls is serious.

"To give one example of how dangerous it can be, a serious case review led to Bradford Council and the police apologising for letting down a 14-year-old boy who was groomed by dozens of men.”

He continued to quote Phil Mitchell, of the BLAST Project in Bradford, as saying: “I think the fact he was a boy was an issue. If the police had got a call that a girl was planning to sleep with an older man then I think officers would have responded with more urgency.”

Mr Davies has said he would prefer International Men’s Day and International Women’s Day scrapped and to allow men and women to happily co-exist without tension or people stirring up issues with their own agendas.

Mr Davies told the Commons men are getting a bad press and men, too, are victims of abuse, rape and crime.

He added: “It is fair to say that I am often pilloried for arguing that men and women should be treated equally.

“Those who think the sexes should be treated differently in the eyes of the law are the ones who are truly sexist.”