A story of a 12-year-old girl forced to give oral sex to six boys in her school toilets was one of the shocking tales a shadow minister heard when she visited Croydon.

Seema Malhotra was told that the girl in this case was moved on from the school instead of the offenders, as the school did not know how to deal with the incident.

The shadow violence against women minister was on the campaign trail with Croydon Central candidate Sarah Jones and said this case is just one example of why she will be bringing in a bill to prevent violence against women and girls if Labour wins the election in May.

During her visit to the borough on Tuesday they met with teenagers who told about the issues they are concerned about in the community - including domestic violence and female genital mutilation.

And they talked with charity groups about how they deal with issues, and how to prevent them before they arise.

Ms Malhotra said: "There was discussion about the impact that education has, both on people being aware of what’s happening to them as well as teachers and the police knowing what to do with that information.

"One issue was the question of consent and how we tackle the issue of what consent is.

"When somebody says no you cannot assume that they are saying yes.

"That’s a problem in a growing gang culture.

"That’s a battle we are not winning at the moment in terms of reversing that trend.

"And there needs to be a culture change and how victims need to be believed when they come forward [otherwise it affects] the confidence for people coming forward."

If Labour wins the general election Ms Malhotra hopes her bill would change attitudes and bring about a zero tolerance policy to violence against women.

It would include compulsory sexual education for children from key stage one, increasing frontline police officers, funding women’s refuges and introducing a commissioner for domestic and sexual violence.

Both of them were encouraged to hear from the teenagers about their views on the issues.

Ms Malhotra said: "Young people are wanting to be involved in this strategy and it was heartening to see their enthusiasm."

And Mrs Jones said: "I think perceptions [about violence towards women] have clearly changed over the last 20 years but we need to go much further and demand so much more.

"There’s still a huge amount of work to be done."