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Jess Phillips 'Epstein files must be start of real change'
The Guardian
|February 16, 2026
Institutions can be persuaded to take action on violence against women and girls only when some sort of “calamity” or “political scandal” hits the headlines, Jess Phillips has said.
The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said she wanted to use the momentum from the release of files on the disgraced US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to push for long-term legislative change and greater support for survivors, rather than quick-fix reactive policy announcements.
Writing for the Guardian, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley said: “If repentance and sorrow is all we achieve out of the courage of the Epstein victims, we will have failed; change is all that will suffice.
This story is from the February 16, 2026 edition of The Guardian.
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