I was utterly delighted with the landslide victory in the House of Lords on Monday 15 March. History in the making - rather herstory in the making!

The House of Lords passed Amendment 73 to tighten the law on stalking and create a comprehensive perpetrator strategy, 327 votes to 232.

This is a HUGE victory for campaigners.

This amendment has been 20 years in the making and I want to firstly pay tribute to Baroness Royall and all who spoke about why it was important including Baroness Brinton, Lord Hunt, Lord Russell and Baroness Bertin.

And I want to thank all the survivors and families who bravely spoke out and shared their stories including John Clough, Zoe Dronfield, Rachel Williams, Georgia Gabriel Hooper, Charlotte Kneer, Gemma Aitchison and Celia Peachey and to all of you who have signed the petition, supported Amendment 73 and all my campaigning and all the requests to write letters etc.

WE DID IT!

There were many tears on Monday from all of us but they were tears of joy. This has been such a long hard fought battle - my longest yet.

This will create much needed cultural change that is desperately needed. It will mean that rather than asking ‘why doesn’t she leave' or ‘why was she out at 930pm?’ the focus will shift to him and we will ask ‘how do we stop him?’

It will also mean education for boys and men and centring men in this. It is not a problem for women to fix alone. We know that doesn't work. We need men to be part of the solution and hold other men to account and challenge sexist and misogynist attitudes and behaviours because they are harmful to women. We must make violent and abusive men visible and accountable.

This will be a game changer.

BUT we cannot stop now. We must continue to keep the pressure on the Government.

There have already been four ministers saying 4 different things and the latest on BBC Women’s Hour from Minister Victoria Atkins was confounding.

When asked if she supported the register she obfuscated. She would not say ‘yes’ and when pressed just kept repeating, like a dalek, that she/they did not want a separate register. Well neither do we and we have been saying that from the start - change the record please Minister and move on.

Secondly, she said that they were working on 'something in the background'. Oh really? Pray do tell as this has never been brought up or disclosed before. Never. Not once. So why the secrecy?

Word soup quite frankly and not bloody good enough. I have always said ViSOR and MAPPA need investment and if more offenders are to be added, of course, investment and training and guidance is needed. This must be a digital platform, it is 2021 for goodness sake, and for all relevant agencies to have access in a timely manner to ensure information share and data collection about the most dangerous offenders. 

The Government need to invest in this and yet the Government keep telling us that women's safety is their priority right?

Well, 216 Conservative Peers voted against Amendment 73 in the DA Bill. But fear not, as they are going to put more cameras and lights up outside and more cops in undercover bars. Well that's a relief, said no-one.

This is staggering and will not make the changes we urgently need nor will it tackle the misogyny, gender bias and institutionalised sexism women experience every day and, in particular, when reporting crimes to the police.

The DA Bill will be back in the Commons after Easter and so the time to act is NOW! We must keep the pressure on the Government and ensure they deliver. No more words - ACTION!

ACTION NEEDED

1. WRITE TO / EMAIL your MP. Ask that they support the inclusion of serial domestic abusers and stalkers on the database for violent and sexual offenders. State that public protection must be joined up and investment in the database, training and guidance is also urgently needed in order to make women's safety a priority. Please include your own personal reason for why you think tit is of vital importance that Government do this and act now. You can include that since the first reading of the Domestic Abuse Bill 30 women have been murdered and so the clock is ticking whilst this continues to be debated and that femicide is an an all-time high.

2. COMPLETE the Government's short online survey about Violence Against Women and Girls and ask that they prioritise and focus on perpetrators and male violence and serial and high harm perpetrators

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-call-for-evidence

3. REPOST / SHARE my social media posts about the Amendment and campaign, Twitter @laurarichards99 and IG @laurarichards999 Use #Amendment73 #DABill #MaleViolence when you post

Thank you so much for your support and activism. Together we will make this happen. Women’s lives depend on it.

Laura xox