Phillips promises to make women and girls safe at last

Labour vows change but campaigners question its strategy

- MILLIE COOKE POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) will be treated as seriously as crackdowns on terror and organised crime, Labour vowed yesterday, as the party unveiled its long-delayed strategy on the issue.

Promising to make women and girls “safe at last”, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips vowed that “change is coming”. She said it will take “all of society to step up and end the epidemic of abuse and violence that shames our country”, adding: “The challenge is great, but I have never felt more confident that we can rise to it than I do today.”

But campaigners say the strategy does not go far enough, with children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza saying she is “deeply concerned” the strategy does not do enough to protect girls under 16, while Refuge said the funding contained in the strategy is just a “drop in the ocean”.

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch faced criticism after saying the strategy was too focused on young boys and too influenced by the Netflix drama Adolescence, instead calling for people from “cultures that don’t respect women” to be removed from the UK.

Ms Phillips said the strategy is backed by £1bn over the next three years, which includes £480m already confirmed in local government budgets and £550m across the Ministry of Justice budget. An extra £19m will be invested for support in safe accommodation - a figure that Refuge said is simply not enough.

Ms Phillips added that new forensic technology will be used to track down rapists and sex offenders, with police forces using “the same data-driven approach to tracking offenders that we apply to terrorists and serious organised criminals”.