Since I was first elected, I have campaigned for new laws and tougher sentences on violence against women and girls, working with some exceptional organisations in West Berkshire along the way. From the backbenches, I secured two changes to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 relating to sexual violence and introduced a Private Members Bill last year to secure tougher sentences for domestic homicide. This followed a number of recent high-profile cases, where men convicted of manslaughter for horrific acts including strangulation of their partner, received derisory sentences of less than 5 years.
Last week I was delighted to be appointed Minister for Victims and Safeguarding, working jointly across the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, with a focus on preventing violence against women. My brief includes building on the Government’s vital work on tackling grooming gangs and modern slavery and, most importantly, driving up prosecution rates for rape.
Across both Departments, I will be overseeing the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the new Grooming Gangs Taskforce which will see specialist officers brought in to assist police forces with active child sexual exploitation to crack down on these most insidious of crimes. Keeping children safe from harm must always be one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government and is an absolute priority of mine.
In the months ahead, I will be working on new laws that put public protection at their core. These include measures for whole life tariffs without the possibility of parole, for murders which are sadistic or sexually motivated, and to require that rapists serve the entirety of their sentence behind bars (rather than the customary 50% introduced by the last Labour Government). New safeguards for victims will be enshrined in law, including the right for victims of rape and serious sexual offences to have a dedicated advisor to support them through every step of the criminal justice process. And we will be looking at new measures to prevent sex offenders from changing their names and crack down on spiking.
At the Ministry of Justice, I will also be focusing on the prosecution of rape and domestic abuse. As part of this important work, I will reflect the voices of our valued local organisations, such as Berkshire Women’s Aid, FLAG DV - a free domestic abuse advisory service, and AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) which arose from a tragic murder case here in West Berkshire.
I am looking forward to working with the brilliant Ministers and Civil Servants at the Ministry of Justice and Home Office. There has been much progress across these important areas since I was first elected but there is further we can go, and had I not become a Minister I would have been lobbying hard to make this happen. Of course, my focus will remain on Newbury and my constituency work will continue on many issues such as special educational needs, fuel prices and a bridge over the railway line in Thatcham.