Dear Supporters
Today, the government have introduced the Domestic Abuse Bill in parliament and Rachel was invited onto the Victoria Derbyshire Show where she took the opportunity to highlight the petition that now stands at over 202,000 signatures.
Up to now we have heard nothing from the MoJ on how and when they intend to implement the ‘public call for evidence’ that was promised when they announced a special 90 day review of the family courts and domestic abuse in May.
You may recall that this MoJ led review was announced in response to Louise Haigh’s Bill earlier this year which called for the removal of parental rights of rapists and for an independent inquiry into the family courts. Timewise we are now one third of the way through this review and we can’t help being curious about what exactly will be achieved if they are not putting your voices centre stage.
So, in the meantime, Rachel has used every opportunity to get your voices heard. Two weeks ago when we discovered Rachel was presenting at a workshop with Edward Argar MP (the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice), she took the opportunity to present him with the three thousand comments and testimonies that have been left on the petition (names were removed), which Mr Argar graciously received.
Then last week, after Theresa May announced she wanted to get the Domestic Abuse Bill into Westminster before she left office, Rachel was invited to join a group of survivors and campaign groups for a meeting at number 10. Edward Argar was also present, he stated in that meeting that he’d looked through the petition and seen the ‘awful, distressing comments’.
We hope that decision makers are starting to understand the scale and impact of the issues we are raising. We will keep you posted on any progress.
Thanks for all your support, we will keep pushing to have your voices heard.
Much love
Rachel & Teresa xx