Labour warns that Britain has become desensitised to stories about dead women and pledges to treat violence against women as the emergency it is

Labour has today unveiled a plan to keep women safe and get dangerous perpetrators off Britain's streets, warning that successive governments and organisations have treated violence against women and girls as an inevitability rather than “the emergency that it is”.

The party has pledged to call time on the epidemic of male violence towards women with a five-point plan to overhaul the policing and criminal justice response to these devastating crimes.

Following the tragic case of a young mother being killed while pushing a pram in Bradford last week the Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, says that she is “sick and tired of women and girls facing the same threats of violence and abuse, generation after generation”, with too many women being let down by the police and the criminal justice system.

In government, Labour says it would demand a step change in tackling the scourge of violence against women and girls, with an unprecedented mission to halve incidents within a decade.

In a week when two police forces have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over their handling of the Bradford case, Cooper is determined to deliver an overhaul of the police and criminal justice response to violence and abuse.

Labour says it will use the full machinery of government to pursue violent perpetrators and support survivors – with a transformative package of measures to turn the tide on tackling these crimes, from early prevention work in schools to more proactive policing of perpetrators.

On Wednesday, Labour's powerful new cross-departmental committee on tackling violence against women and girls will meet for the first time in shadow form to progress plans for delivering urgent change.

Part of Keir Starmer's plans to put missions at the heart of a Labour government, it will be chaired by the Shadow Home Secretary, and will bring together shadow ministers from across government briefs, including justice, housing, health, education, and work.

As a starting point, Labour will deliver urgent change in five key areas across policing and the criminal justice system with: specialist resources in every force; swift intervention to save lives; relentless pursuit of dangerous perpetrators; the strictest standards for those served with keeping the public safe; and sustained support for survivors throughout the criminal justice process.

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, said:

“For too long governments have treated violence against women and girls as an inevitability instead of the emergency that it is. Week after week we see stories of women being killed, appalling failings by organisations charged with keeping them safe and weak assurances that ‘lessons will be learned', yet nothing is changing and families across the country are being utterly devastated as a result.

“After Sarah Everard was killed, women across the country demanded action but too little has changed. After Raneem Oudeh was killed, we expected major overhauls in policing and the criminal justice system, but barely anything was done. The passive response from the government to these terrible crimes is just hopeless.

“We are sick and tired of women and girls facing the same threats of violence and abuse, generation after generation. Enough is enough. A Labour government will treat this epidemic with the seriousness and urgency it deserves – overhauling every aspect of society's response to these heinous crimes, starting with policing and the criminal justice system.

“With a Labour Government, the police will be asked to strain every sinew and use every tool in their arsenal to pursue dangerous perpetrators who pose a risk to women and to keep victims safe from harm. Missed opportunities cost lives and far too many have already been lost.”

Ends

Notes

Labour's five-point plan to keep women safe and get dangerous perpetrators off Britain's streets:

Specialist resource in every police force:

• Labour will mandate domestic abuse and wider Violence Against Women and Girls training for every police officer in the country, working with former Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney to devise an overhaul of the police standards regime.
• Labour will roll out Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) units in every police force in the country, ensuring every area is equipped with the specialist knowledge and skills to prevent and solve the most serious and complex sexual crimes.

Swift intervention to save lives:

• Too often when women are killed, it transpires afterwards that there were missed opportunities from the police and other agencies to intervene and provide protection. Labour will introduce ‘Raneem's Law' to overhaul the policing response when reports are first made. This will include:

Relentless pursuit of dangerous perpetrators:

• Following the success of a pilot in the Metropolitan Police, Labour would require every police force to devise a matrix of the most dangerous repeat perpetrators in their area and use the tactics and tools normally reserved for counter-terror operations and serious organised crime to monitor those suspects and get them off the streets. Forces will be asked to use data and intelligence on named suspects of rape, stalking and domestic abuse to systematically rank high-risk suspects, based on the recency, frequency and severity of VAWG allegations made against them. Once identified, those perpetrators must be targeted with the full armoury of police resources, including covert and surveillance operations and most-wanted manhunts, as well as working with victims to revisit cases, compile new evidence and witness accounts, in order to get prosecutions over the line.
• Labour will implement a new Domestic Abuse Register to enable comprehensive multi-agency mapping, monitoring and management of high-risk domestic abuse perpetrators.

Strictest standards for those served with keeping the public safe:

• Lady Angiolini's recent report into the appalling murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police Officer caused understandable anguish and alarm amongst the public. To rebuild confidence, Labour would enforce the strictest standards for those served with keeping the public safe, including:

Sustained support for survivors throughout the criminal justice process:

• Labour will introduce a new scheme that offers free legal advice to rape survivors across England and Wales, to ensure they are supported throughout the criminal justice process, to drive down drop-out rates and to help secure justice. With no existing public provision for legal advice to help them enforce their rights, the legal advocates scheme will pave the way for a fundamentally transformed experience for victims. These advocates will be local solicitors with experience of acting for vulnerable people, who will receive additional training on the rights of rape victims. They will advise them on their rights to support and information throughout the process, help them use the VRR scheme when decisions are made not to prosecute, and challenge any unnecessary data requests.
• Labour would introduce Specialist Rape Courts to fast-track cases and speed up justice, using existing space at every crown court location in England and Wales to establish a specialist courtroom for dealing with rape trials. Labour will also change the way trials are listed by working with the Lord Chief Justice and judges to get rape cases listed as a priority, to bring down the unacceptable waiting times and delays which are causing so many victims to drop out.
• Labour would give vulnerable victims the right to have specialist support advisors with them in court or when giving evidence.