Rosena Allin-Khan MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Nov 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls: London · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under you as Chair, Mr Stringer. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for securing the debate. Since she has come to Parliament, she has been a tireless campaigner on this issue and a real credit to her community and any victim of violence against women and girls. The damning statistics are so well reported and have been well noted in the debate so far. Although this is a national challenge, in London specifically, almost 160,000 domestic abuse crimes and more than 25,000 sexual offences were reported to the police last year. We know that those figures actually underestimate of the scale of the problem, because so much goes unreported. Silence is not consent; it is the result of a system that fails to empower survivors. As we all know, the effects of violence against women and girls are often too deadly. Across the UK, a woman is killed, on average, every three days. Just think about that for a moment. Behind those numbers are mothers, daughters and sisters—precious lives cut short too soon by a death that was entirely avoidable. Their names and stories must never be forgotten, and today is our opportunity to honour each and every one of them. When instances of violence against women and girls occur, victims should be able to turn to the police, but, too often, women lack trust and faith in our police—and their concerns are not without merit. Reports of misogyny and sexism in police forces remain commonplace and continue to undermine confidence in policing. Just last week, former Met police officer David Carrick received another life sentence for sexual offences. Let us be very clear: today, on our streets, purporting to keep our young women safe, are police officers. When one of Carrick’s victims attended hospital following being assaulted, she was warned that it would be difficult to seek justice as the law protects its own. That is emblematic of a view held by many that officers close ranks and protect their own rather than listening the voices of survivors. The only way for the Met to rebuild trust is to take action when officers fail to meet the high standards that we all rightly expect of them. I know that the Met and its leaders have promised action, and I am sure that any changes will be well supported by us all. No one should have to plan their route home, clutch their keys, or second-guess whether a street is too dark or too quiet to walk down. As a mother of two girls, I should not be having to think about when the right time is to tell them what side of the road they should walk on or how they should seek help, or to take them to learn Muay Thai and boxing at a local gym, because I feel that that is the only way I can protect them in this day and age. In my constituency of Tooting, I launched my Safe Space campaign, signing local businesses up to offer a place of safety to anyone on local streets. The situation is critical, but there is cause for hope, and I welcome work done in London to create our city’s own violence against women and girls strategy, which champions prevention and education while placing responsibility squarely on perpetrators to change their behaviour. I know that our Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, cares deeply about this, and with over £17.7 million invested in specialist support, the strategy recognises that harm often begins with words and attitudes, and it seeks to restore trust in justice. In Wandsworth, our Labour-run council has been proactive in addressing violence against women and girls. It has doubled investment to address violence against women and girls, which has allowed for the employment of a domestic abuse specialist in the housing team and the creation of an advocacy service to help women to navigate the system. These measures will go a long way to supporting those in desperate need of help. While this work is much needed and welcome, we surely all see that there is much more to be done. Violence against women and girls does not occur in a vacuum. It is born out of misogyny. It is born out of the sexism that goes unaddressed on our streets, in our workplaces and in our schools. We need a continued focus on early intervention and education to address the root causes of the violence that impacts too many women and girls. The online world has become a breeding ground for extreme misogyny, targeted at young boys and often glorifying violence against women. Finally, survivors must feel empowered to come forward. That can only be done by driving up standards in our police forces and fixing our justice system, so that all victims are believed.