A Government adviser on preventing violence against women and girls has suggested her demand for street harassment to be criminalised is being blocked.

Nimco Ali, who Priti Patel appointed to advise the Home Office in 2020, wants behaviour including wolf-whistling, catcalling and staring persistently to be made a crime punished with on-the-spot fines.

Following the murder of Sarah Everard last year the Government announced a crackdown on sexual harassment, with its strategy developed after a public consultation taking in evidence from 180,000 people.

Ms Ali told the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast she had experienced “pushback” over her campaign.

Hereford Times: Nimco Ali thinks her suggestions for a street harassment rule are being blocked (PA)Nimco Ali thinks her suggestions for a street harassment rule are being blocked (PA)

She went on: "For me, I would specifically love (for) public sexual harassment to become a crime.”

“One of the things that I’ve seen is that a department and a Secretary of State can have an opinion and then there can be other things (where there is) pushback,” she said, before clarifying the pushback came from “other people”.

“And Cabinet responsibility is a thing – so that’s why I’m saying ‘as a thing’, it’s not just individual, so I do think that there is at times a very masculined conversation where the Government, in how Government and institutions work, so we need to be able to address that."

As part of the crackdown launched last year, the Government said it would not rule out creating new laws over street harassment, saying: “We are looking carefully at where there may be gaps in existing law and how a specific offence for public sexual harassment could address those.”