More cash needed to protect women from violence

South West MPs address parliament

More money is needed to support Plymouth’s work in tackling violence against women and girls, according to MPs and councillors. 

The call came during a debate in parliament on Thursday, brought by Conservative MP for South West Devon, Sir Gary Streeter. 

The Plymouth Violence Against Women and Girls [VAWG] Commission was set up in January 2022 by Plymouth City Council following the murder of Bobbi-Anne McLeod.

MPs highlighted the need to combat widespread misogyny and the impact of social media. 

As figures suggest the overwhelming majority of cases involved attacks on women by men, Mr Streeter said efforts should focus on male attitudes.

In 2019-20, 69 per cent of domestic abuse victims in Plymouth were female and 74 per cent of suspects were male.

Opening the debate, Mr Streeter asked: “How do we change our deeply entrenched culture, which is riddled with inappropriate male attitudes to women and girls?”

He also addressed the impact of social media. 

“The internet has made access to degrading images of women a free-for-all and on social media so-called influencers such as Andrew Tate, as well as men belonging to the incel mindset, continue to pour out their bile and disrespect on women and girls.” 

Incel is short for ‘involuntarily celebate.’ Plymouth murderer Jake Davison referenced the incel movement in his rants before he killed five people in Keyham in 2021.

Mr Streeter praised the work of Conservative police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, Alison Hernandez, explaining it was among her four priorities in her policing plan.

But he said the initiatives needed more money from government. 

“Additional central funding for frontline interventions would make a world of difference to our cause,” he said. And he asked: “Is the minister [Conservative parliamentary under-secretary (Home Office) Sarah Dines] aware that current Home Office funding is inaccessible to the majority of small local VAWG organisations in Devon and Cornwall because of the conditions attached?”

Conservative MP for Torbay, Kevin Foster, backed Sir Gary and added: “The poison that is the incel movement is infecting too many a mind on social media, and too many women in Torbay have a story of harassment or violence that they could share.

“I note that the investment package that the Home Office has provided as part of the £1.1 million safer streets package for Torquay includes a specific element for tackling violence against women and girls by making our town centre safer.”

But other MPs debate criticised the government’s record on tackling violence against women. 

Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, said figures for successful prosecutions of people accused of domestic violence were falling.

“Those disgracefully low statistics demonstrate the government’s failure to act, meaning that victims are kept in danger and perpetrators are left in our communities, in our homes and on our streets,” she said.  

National figures from the Crown Prosecution Service for 2022 reveal prosecutions are down 9.6 percent and convictions down nine percent.  

In the final quarter of 2019 there were 12,467 convictions.  That dropped almost a quarter (23 per cent) in the latest three months for which figures are available in 2022 to 9,587 cases.

Ahead of Thursday’s debate, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, Luke Pollard, said: “Male violence against women and girls is on the rise across the country and, as we’ve seen on too many tragic occasions, Plymouth is no exception to that.

“In Westminster, I’ve proposed Keyham’s Law to make changes after the tragedy in Keyham, and I’m continuing to campaign for action on incels who spread hate against women on the internet.”

Keyham’s Law, officially entitled the Firearms and Hate Crime Bill, would ban the keeping of pump action firearms in homes, make it compulsory to report any mental health concerns of gun owners to police and make violent misogyny a hate crime. 

Mr Pollard added: “I want to thank councillors in Plymouth who, on a cross-party basis, are making the case for urgent action. Our city’s plan to tackle violence against women and girls must be properly funded and all of it implemented. We still have a long way to go until everyone in our city is safe from fear and violence.”

In concluding, Mr Streeter said attitudes were changing and victims were more confident to report crimes. But he said: “We are the Jimmy Savile generation. We are the Rolf Harris generation. So much was hidden. 

“At least now it is out in the open, but we still have to deal with it. We have a long journey ahead, so we just have to commit ourselves to this task.”