Jess Phillips MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. We cannot just end the presumption of contact on its own because perpetrators will often just find a new tactic. We have to ensure that our family courts are fit for purpose and will keep the children, and the non-abusive parents, in our country safe.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  As somebody who has sat on a number of multi-agency risk assessment conferences over the years, what I will not do is just do what lots of people have done before. It is very easy to stand up and say, “a multi-agency response is the response to that”, but it just becomes words. It actually has to mean something. The strategy is not just something for one partner to do; it is for all of them.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has today announced the domestic violence funding envelope that will go to local authorities—£109 million more than in previous years under the last Government, when the funding was set up.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I will not be drawn on what the strategy says, but that is currently the case. This year, the Government have increased the funding to the migrant victims fund, which is exactly for people who do not have access to public funds, to ensure that they can get refuge accommodation. Migrant victims currently have access to support regardless of their status.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  The strategy, like much of the work, applies to England and Wales, but I have met my counterparts in Scotland on a number of occasions to ensure that we are working together. Some areas of this issue are to do with immigration and parts of welfare, which are not devolved. I have also met lots of Scottish organisations, and we will continue to make sure that there is synthesis and learning from both sides.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that guarantee. For too long women have had to take all of the responsibility in this area, and frankly they have done most of the labour for free—whether they are victims or not. It is important to include men, because the labour needs to be shared. We also cannot arrest our way out of a volume crime like this, which is growing among younger people. We have to look at what interventions we are putting in place for men and boys to make sure that they do not suffer from this as well—not just as victims but as perpetrators, because it is a suffering life to be a perpetrator.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable, and this Government are treating it as a national emergency. Members are aware that we have made an unprecedented commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. This effort will be underpinned by our violence against women and girls strategy. As I said in my oral statement on the Angiolini inquiry earlier this month, I know that there is a great deal of interest in that strategy. Having lived and breathed this piece of work for many months, the eagerness with which colleagues across the House are awaiting its publication is something I welcome, not least because in order to succeed in our mission, we will need everyone to play their part, including Members of all political stripes. I can confirm that the strategy will be published this Thursday, 18 December, and I look forward to presenting it to the House on that day. I will be very happy to discuss every detail and every policy in our plan once it has been launched; until then, I hope that hon. Members will bear with me for just a few more days. We have not been sitting idle, however. Since the general election, we have taken urgent steps to strengthen the response. We have introduced new protections for stalking victims, launched long-awaited domestic abuse protection orders, increased refuge funding and increased helpline funding. We have placed domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in the first five areas, and we have begun the process of ending the presumption of contact—something begged for by victims for years. We are expanding support for child victims of trafficking across the country. Because I have a time limit, I will not list the many other things that have been done in this area not just by the Home Department, but by every Government Department. I really could go on. Those steps are all having an impact, but to give every woman and girl the safety and security they deserve, a complete reset is needed. Through the strategy, we will go further than ever before in our efforts to deliver real and lasting change, and provide every woman and girl across the country with the safety and security that they deserve.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I was in Woking looking at the multi-agency services offered there, and I have to say that I was incredibly impressed by what is on offer in Surrey, both for victims who wish to go through the criminal justice system and those who do not. While I would much prefer it if that figure was less adrift, we must ensure that we do not just focus on criminal justice outcomes as lots of women will want other outcomes.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I absolutely will do that. I commit to that here and will make sure that is noted down, because the strategy is not the end and it does not have all the answers. It is something that will have to be changed and worked on, and it will take everybody to do it. It is a fundamental shift. I absolutely commit to doing that. Just to say, I have always worked alongside my hon. Friend, and Members of Parliament who reach out to me and want to work together on this issue are always welcome.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. Schools need to play a vital part, as do the tech companies that have been identified, but absolutely there is a need for parents, who are often pulling their hair out trying to know the right thing to do. Parents who become abuse victims by children with some of those attitudes is a long under-served group within violence against women and girls. If we look at the femicide data, the number of matricides speaks to a broader problem. Ensuring that parents are part of the solution will be part of the strategy.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I am more than happy to speak to any agencies who have new good suggestions in this space. The strategy will include children, from birth—in fact, before, because of the dangers to women when they are pregnant.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I have known Rachel for over a decade. She was one of the key campaigners on the presumption of contact—I think that was the first issue I ever met her to discuss—because of the harm that was done to her children. It is not for me to talk about that without her permission, but we campaigned on that, and it is really good that we have been able to deliver on it as a Government. The hon. Member talks about prevention. Preventing people from becoming perpetrators is as key as supporting victims.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  The Home Secretary was on television talking about the Home Office’s plans with regard to the centre for violence against women and girls, the expansion of V100—a Metropolitan police data source targeting the most violent offenders—and the biggest-ever investment, £53 million, in perpetrator programmes to tackle high-risk-of-harm perpetrators.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I will absolutely promise this to the women across the hon. Member’s constituency, and all the constituencies represented in this Chamber—the idea that a piece of paper written by any Government will suddenly, overnight, make those women safe would be a lie, and I am not willing to do that. It is going to take a huge effort and a lot of work over a good many years to undo the culturally unacceptable situation that his constituents have been faced with. So what I will say is that the intention of the strategy is that, wherever a woman comes forward—whether to the police, health services or social services—and also wherever their perpetrator presents, it is dealt with by the state, because for too long victims have been left to just deal with it on their own.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  Far be it from me to make policy and commissioning decisions for the council in my hon. Friend’s area—although I would quite like to just say yes to her. Absolutely, there is extra money coming from this Government that can be used to expand refuge provision, and I am sure she will take the recommendations to her local council and push for what sounds like a much-needed refuge in Scarborough.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for, over the year and a bit that he has been here, genuinely bringing forward issues on which he wants to see change. Clare’s law is patchy across the entire country; it is brilliant in some areas. One of the issues we face is the fact that there are 43 police forces. If he is talking about a specific legislative change, I would be more than happy to hear about it. However, we are funding the national policing centre for violence against women and girls, and seeking for it to do specific work on Clare’s law—the domestic violence disclosure scheme system—in order to improve experiences. I have received ministerial letters from across the House about failures on Clare’s law, so this is definitely an area that vastly needs improving.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I feel every moment of disappointment that the hon. Lady feels about the failures over the years. I recall working in a service during the coalition Government, when we had to cut our child rape service and get the money from the Big Lottery Fund, because the state, in an era of austerity under that Government, took away the funding that we had used for a child rape counselling service. There are many, many years to reset. We have to change decades—not decades, actually, but millennia—of the expectation that women are just meant to expect this violence. I could have made a document that, like all the documents that went before, did not do that reset. The delay—I am going to do something rare for a Government Minister—is my fault. It is entirely my fault because, with every iteration, the strategy was not ambitious enough. I could have done it more quickly, and then it would not have been as good. I apologise that the hon. Lady has to wait till Christmas, but there have been decades of failure. The metrics that we will be measured against and the plans for how they will be measured will all be released on Thursday. The hon. Lady will be able to hold me to account. I will not be dragged kicking and screaming; she is welcome to come into my office at any point and have a meeting with me.

• 15 Dec 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls Strategy · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that reminder of those failures; we absolutely have to change that this time. I can pay no greater credit than to say that the person who has done the vast majority of the work in ensuring other Government Departments come to the table—much as everybody gets to see my passion and I am quite bombastic—is the Prime Minister, who has been my greatest ally in that.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I would be happy to give evidence.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry · Hansard source

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  The findings of the report will absolutely inform the strategy. I do speak to Lady Elish—but I am not waiting for Lady Elish’s various reports to do things or not. I cannot wait for reports if something absolutely needs to be done. With regard to policing in Rochdale, I will ensure that the new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection looks into what my hon. Friend mentions. I look across the country at areas where police forces may have historically had quite public failings—as with the case of Sarah Everard—and it is really good to see the level of learning that there has been in lots of those places, but we want to see more. I only wish that we did not wait for terrible tragedies and total failings before we changed, so I stand again at this Dispatch Box and implore every agency and police force across the country to stretch every muscle to prioritise this issue.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his tone and his genuinely constructive questioning. The first thing to say is that, absolutely, Operation Soteria started under the previous Government—I worked on it alongside Ministers, as well as police forces, at the time—and in that spirit, I always welcome such cross-party working. It seems that Operation Soteria has been a game changer, as Lady Elish’s review certainly highlights. The review also states that it needs to be on a consistent footing, so we very much hope that putting it in the new centre will provide consistent footing to the very good work started under the previous Government, which I absolutely give them credit for. On the issue of data, the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. What data we measure and how data needs to be improved will absolutely be part of the strategy. The Government have said that they are going to halve violence against women and girls within a decade—the first time that any Government have tried to put any numbers on it—and we cannot have numbers unless we have a lot of data, so looking at data will be very important. The hon. Gentleman highlights the issue, which Lady Elish herself talks about, that progress has not been fast enough. The recommendations for the Government in the previous report are being undertaken, but a clear issue throughout the report is the nature of the 43 police forces, as everybody will see when they read it. One of the reasons for having the new national centre for violence against women and girls is to try and do something about that. We also need fundamental reform with regard to policing and standards, so that we do not end up with a postcode lottery across our country. The Home Secretary has already announced some reforms around police and crime commissioners, but broader policing reforms will be coming in the new year, for the exact reason that Lady Elish outlines, which is the postcode lottery across police forces. How confident am I? I am always confident that we will undertake as much as possible. That will never be as fast as I or anyone would like it to be, because this is hard work, and we cannot just change things for good announcements. We have to change the culture, and that is going to take a lot.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry · Hansard source

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  We owe it to Sarah and to Sarah’s family, and to every family in our own constituencies that we have met, to ensure that this work actually gets done. I hear my hon. Friend’s anger at what progress has been made. Obviously this Labour Government will legislate and are putting on a statutory footing the issues around vetting, with what can and cannot be allowed and who can and cannot be a police officer, and hopefully that will lead to a sea change. I have to say, though, that the idea that there are police forces in this country that are not undertaking the most basic work in this space, with what Lady Angiolini has found about numbers, is inexcusable. I say to every chief constable in the country that this is a priority—make it a priority. I say that from this Dispatch Box with as much power as possible and with the Home Office behind me. Of course the Home Office has a role, and of course funding on things like prevention is absolutely the responsibility of the Government, but the basics of keeping women safe—we are more than half the population—should be absolutely basic policing.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry · Hansard source

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  With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the Angiolini inquiry. I cannot begin anywhere else than with acknowledging the abhorrent crime that led to the establishment of this important inquiry in the first place. Sarah Everard’s murder by a serving police officer was a betrayal of trust so wretched that it defies belief. None of us will ever forget the collective sense of sorrow, outrage and revulsion that swept across the country in the aftermath. There were far-reaching implications for policing and the public’s confidence in those who are meant to serve and protect our communities. Let us always remember that this began with a young woman losing her life: a beloved daughter, sister and friend gone because of an act of pure evil. Today, I am thinking of Sarah, of the years denied to her and of her loved ones. They are all in our hearts, as are the other victims of violence against women and girls who have lost their lives. As the Justice Secretary said, I have been with some of them this morning and we hold them—I am sure I speak for the whole House—very closely in our hearts. Part 1 of the Angiolini inquiry focused on the career and conduct of Sarah’s killer, while part 2 was commissioned to examine broader issues in relation to policing and the safety of women. The first of two reports that will make up part 2 of the inquiry has been laid before the House and published today. It examines what more can be done to prevent sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. The report starkly highlights that many women do not feel safe due to the actions and behaviours of predatory men, and that they are assuming the burden of their own protection themselves through avoidance measures such as not going out at night, avoiding dark streets and modifying their use of public transport. This is, as we all know, utterly unacceptable. As the inquiry chair, Lady Elish Angiolini, puts it so clearly in the report: “Somehow, we have simply come to accept that many women do not feel safe walking in their streets.” This is a substantial and significant report, and I urge all Members to read it in full. It acknowledges that there is a range of ongoing work which seeks to prevent these terrible crimes and disrupt predators, but it also highlights that there is no quick fix and demands a more consistent approach across the whole of society to address and prevent this violence. At this point, I would like to place on record my heartfelt thanks to Lady Elish and her team for their work. They have approached, and continue to approach, their task with skill, sensitivity and determination. Today’s publication underlines why it is so vital that every agency and every sector does more to protect women from harm. This Government are resolute: the fact that women do not feel safe going about their everyday lives is a national emergency. The House will also be aware of our landmark commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, which will require us to address the root causes of abuse and violence to prevent offending and relentlessly pursue those who perpetrate these appalling crimes. Since the general election, we have played a more active role to ensure that women and girls receive more consistent protection from policing. We have provided £13.1 million to deliver a more co-ordinated approach and national leadership to drive up investigative and operational standards through the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection. The new centre is ensuring that expertise, including from programmes such as Operation Soteria and Project Vigilant, is put into practice in forces across the country. They were both highlighted in Lady Angiolini’s report. We are also clear that those who commit these heinous crimes have absolutely no place in policing. To address that, and to help fulfil recommendations from part 1 of the inquiry, we are putting police vetting standards on a statutory footing, which will enable forces to exclude those with a caution or conviction for VAWG offences from policing. We are also strengthening requirements on forces to suspend officers under investigation for these crimes. I know there is a great deal of interest in our upcoming VAWG strategy. I was in No. 10 with the Prime Minister and stakeholders working on it today. It will deliver a bold step change in how we, as a Government and a society, address VAWG over the next decade. As the inquiry’s report highlights, we cannot address entrenched issues in isolation. We must draw on all of society and I place emphasis on this being a truly cross-Government strategy. Prevention is fundamental to our approach, alongside strengthening our response to target perpetrators and stop them causing harm. Having lived and breathed its development over several months, I am as eager as everyone else to get it out there. It will undoubtedly answer some of the issues raised in this important report. It is on its way very soon and I am confident that it will live up to expectations. As Lady Elish highlights, too little has been done to deliver consistent protections for women and girls, and progress has fallen short. We find ourselves at a moment of reckoning. As someone who has spent their working life trying to secure real lasting change, I know it will not be easy, but in honour of the victims and their families, and for the sake of women and girls across England and Wales, we must succeed. This Government will not stop until we have. I commend the statement to the House.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry · Hansard source

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  Okay, I will say “very soon”—that is the answer to that. When all hon. Members get to read Lady Elish’s full report, as I have—I obviously get it sooner—they will see that she particularly criticises Ministers or the police service standing up after part one of the report and saying, “Yes, we will just do everything,” and then going away and thinking, “Hang on—a bit of this, a bit of that.” I am going to give Lady Elish the respect that she deserves by taking away all the recommendations before I say exactly what I am going to do. When others get to read the strategy—I was interviewed by Lady Elish as part of this review—it will answer many of the questions in the report. The timing is awkward: had the strategy come out at the same time, I would be able to answer the question more fully. But Lady Elish deserves the respect of our actually looking at what is possible, rather than just going, “Yes, I will take them all,” and then not being able to deliver on them.

• 2 Dec 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry · Hansard source

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  With regard to my hon. Friend’s comments on trust in policing, what I would say is that nobody dislikes a bad copper like a good copper. When I go all over the country, the ones I meet are the those who are doing innovative and brilliant things in their local police forces—that is why I go out and see them. To her comments about the women in her constituency, the women who I have worked with do not have any choice but to trust the police, as it is a life-and-death situation. The best thing that we can do across the board to improve trust in policing is to make sure that the response to the crimes highlighted by my hon. Friend is good and responsive. We are not going to get what we want in every single case—where somebody gets thrown in prison—but we have to make sure that our systems have options for safety and security for every woman wherever they come forward. That is what the violence against women and girls strategy is about.