Domestic abuse victims suffer while Parliament is suspended
The number of domestic violence killings has hit a five-year high, new figures show. Data from 43 police forces across the UK reveals that 173 people died in domestic violence-related homicides last year. Here, Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris argues that lives are being lost as Parliament lies prorogued...
SINCE the EU referendum in 2016, UK politics has been embroiled in the Brexit debate, never more so than in recent months.
But while negotiations have failed, deals been rejected and chaos has reigned, there is a much bigger picture that appears to have been relegated from the agenda.
When the Prime Minister prorogued Parliament last week he had the opportunity to carry over Bills into the next Parliament.
He carried over only three pieces of legislation, leaving 13 Government Bills to fall.
Among these was the long-awaited and desperately overdue Domestic Abuse Bill.
This Bill was a commitment made by the previous Prime Minister in what was her only Queen’s Speech back in June 2017.
It took more than two years for the Bill to finally have its first reading – arriving very late in her leadership and without time for her to see it through.
At the time of the first reading, Government ministers stressed their determination to do all they could to eradicate the suffering caused by domestic abuse with this landmark legislation.
I imagine they were equally appalled, frustrated and disappointed as I was that their new leader has failed to carry this forward.
The decision was all the more indefensible when viewed in the context of current events.
This week, figures were released showing the number of people killed as a result of domestic violence in the UK is at its highest level in five years, with 173 people killed in domestic violence-related incidents.
After pressure from many both in the House and outside, myself included, the Prime Minister has now announced on social media that his Government is fully committed to tackling this crime and that he will reintroduce legislation in the next Queen’s Speech next month.
I struggle to even find the words for how ridiculous this is.
If the Bill returns in something similar to its current form, then he has wasted valuable time while the parliamentary process begins again – time that will cost some victims dearly.
Lives will be lost to this horrific crime while the Government manipulates the system for its own gain. If his plan is to rewrite the Bill, then the time and commitment already given to it across the House, the sector and in wider society has been for nothing.
For most of us, our home, and the people in it, is a place of happiness and security.
It is where we go after a bad day; a place of comfort when things go wrong; where we retreat when we need reassurance.
Imagine for just one minute if home were the reason for your bad day; if home was the thing that went wrong; if instead of a retreat, home was a place of pain, fear and desperation.
For an estimated two million adults – women and men – this isn’t something they need to imagine, it is their reality.
Add to that the children who are witnesses to this violence or are victims themselves.
Children whose futures may well be irreparably scarred by what they have seen and what they have had to cope with.
Then you begin to realise the scale of the issue and the urgent need for something to be done about it.
Right now, I should be in Westminster representing the good people of Swansea East.
Alongside my colleagues, I should be working to ensure Britain’s exit from the European Union is smooth and protects the livelihoods of my constituents as well as businesses, services and the economy of our country.
My office should be working with women’s sector organisations to ensure the Domestic Abuse Bill is legislatively robust and protects all victims and survivors. Instead we are subject to the Prime Minister’s decision to play fast and loose in his leadership of the country and prorogue Parliament.
In his bid to silence his critics and progress his own version of Brexit without scrutiny, he has caused further suffering for victims of domestic abuse by delaying this legislation.
His attempt at warm words on social media, acknowledging the devastation that domestic abuse causes and promising to reintroduce the Bill in the next sitting of Parliament, is now on the record.
That is his word and he has mine – that the outspoken Welsh lady with the purple hair sitting across the Chamber from him will not be waiting quietly for this Bill to be bought back.
I am ready to make this happen as soon as I am back in Westminster – I hope he is ready for me.