Vital government legislation introduced to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls

I am pleased to be part of a government that prioritises protecting children and victims of crime. Over the last couple of weeks, the government has introduced vital legislation to support our commitment of halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade.

The three areas include, removing automatic parental access from perpetrators; restricting parental rights for rapists whose children were born through rape and criminalising pornography that depicts strangulation or suffocation.

I was delighted to see that the family court law will be changed so it is no longer assumed that it is in the best interest of the child to have contact with both parents. This important legislative change will ensure that parents who are perpetrators will not automatically be given access to their children, providing life-saving protections.

This 10-year campaign was bravely championed by Claire Throssell, who sadly lost her two children when their father set their house on fire whilst in his care. Claire has courageously fought to change the family court system.

Through the Victims and Courts Bill, we have introduced measures to restrict the parental rights for rapists whose children were born through rape. This is a vital Bill that is passing through Parliament and I am looking forward to following the progress as we continue to support victims.

We have also committed to criminalising pornography featuring strangulation or suffocation, with a legal requirement placed on technology platforms to prevent UK users from seeing this material. Accessing content where it is normalised to see women and girls be strangled and suffocated is completely unacceptable.

This government has changed this, ensuring that life-threatening behaviours towards women will no longer be viewed as normal, but for what it is – abuse. This is a vital step towards changing the education and attitudes for young men around women This was one of the main requests in the Lancashire VAWG Survey results, which was commissioned by the Police and Crime Commissioner earlier this year.

I am incredibly proud of this government for taking these necessary steps to protect women, girls and children. I am looking forward to building on the VAWG initiatives that my office are leading on to ensure that women and girls in Lancashire are well-supported alongside this legislation.