Hi All,

Just a quick update, to let you all know the next steps following the disappointment in the House of Commons on March 15th 2021. I have been working hard with Baroness Jan Royall and others and we have retabled Amendment 42 in the Domestic Abuse Bill to be debated on Wednesday 21 April.

It was extremely disappointing, not to mention frustrating, that 351 Conservative MPs voted down Amendment 42 in the House of Commons and 'toed the party line' for reasons that adding a new category would create "added complexity" according to Minster Victoria Atkins.

In my opinion, that's codified language for we would have to do something and we don't want to. And yes, something should be done about these dangerous men who are allowed to act with impunity. And yes, it does mean extra resources would be needed. Why? Because women and children matter and it's the right thing to do.

So what can we take away from this? Well, it's clear that the Government's commitment to prioritise women's safety in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder and the outpouring from women is hollow. They had a golden opportunity to create real change - and they chose to take the easy option.

They tabled their own amendment in lieu of Amendment 42 which commits to more guidance - which we know won't work. It hasn't thus far, so why would it be any different this time around? And they did commit to a perpetrator strategy, but it would exclude stalkers, which again is not good enough.

This week is National Stalking Awareness Week and Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland said at the start of it: "We need to do all we can about the menace of stalking. We need to call it out, stamp it out. We must increase support for victims of stalking and also address those perpetrators who are carrying out this appalling conduct."

Er yeah. So what does that actually look like Robert? Because let's not forget that Robert and 350 other Conservative MPs voted down Amendment 42 - a golden opportunity to shake up the system radically to ensure the perpetrators are held to account for the first time - and that would be a pretty effective way of supporting victims.

Yet more words and no action. Robert was also on the All Party Stalking Law Reform Inquiry, which resulted in the stalking law in 2012 and one of the recommendations in the report was to create a stalkers register.

I have a long memory and I haven't forgotten and we must hold their feet to the fire.

Tomorrow we will be making the case again in the House of Lords.

We will push it to the vote and we hope and believe that Amendment 42 will be supported again, seeing as those in the Lords seem to have a better grasp and understanding of why this is so important and that it would save lives and money

If that happens, we 'ping pong' back to the Commons next week and ahead of that I need you to take action please!

DO:

• WRITE to your MP and demand Parliament backs a national register of serial abusers and stalkers now. Ask them to vote for Motion G1 to the Domestic Abuse Bill (that's what it will be called in the Commons, confusing, I know!)
• Keep signing and sharing all social media posts and the petition. 

Thanks for all your support. Let's get louder...

#WomenMatter #EnoughIsEnough

Laura xoxo