International Women�s Day

Anneliese Midgley Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)]

Every year more than 1.6 million women in this country experience domestic abuse, and my constituency of Knowsley has recently had the highest rate of femicide. I am determined to do everything in my power to keep women safe in my constituency.

Paula Leather was from Knowsley and in her family�s words, Paula was

�beautiful inside and out�so kind, so loving and she was the person that was there for everyone.�

She worked at Asda and was the mum of Jason, Jessica and Matthew and the proudest nanny to her first grandson, but Paula�s husband barbarically murdered her in their home, stabbing her up to 300 times. Behind each statistic we cite are real lives and people, such as Stephanie Owen, Sharon Hayter, Teresa Wishart, Valerie Turner, Magdalena Pacult, Lorraine Cullen, Karen Dempsey and Courtney Boorne�all women from Knowsley killed by male violence against women. Some were murdered by their own sons. One in 10 women killed by men are killed by their own son.

I turn to the urgent issue of funding for specialist domestic abuse services. They are a lifeline for many survivors, but the fact is that they are struggling financially. Services are stretched, underfunded and in some cases shutting their doors. We cannot accept that. Many survivors are more likely to turn to them and to have more trust in them than the state and the police, so these services must be at the heart of this Government�s mission to halve violence against women and girls. We have to put our money where our mouth is.

The First Step, the only independent specialist domestic abuse service in Knowsley, literally saves lives. I commend the chief executive, Caroline Grant, and her team, on what they do for Knowsley. She is up in the Gallery. They are being forced to turn women away, however, because the stability of funding just is not there. That is why I have written to the victims Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), to ask that sustainable, multi-year funding is committed to specialist domestic abuse services, including the First Step in Knowsley.

I welcome Raneem�s law and everything the Government are doing on this urgent matter. We have made incredible progress and have great ambition for women. I thank the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), who is on the Front Bench today, for all her work. No funding was pledged for domestic abuse in the last Budget, and I very much hope that that changes in the spring statement.