Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Bill

Baroness Sherlock Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 10th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure and a privilege to make a brief response from the Opposition Front Bench. I congratulate my noble friend Lady Gale on bringing forward the Bill and on her excellent opening speech, which made a case so compelling that I challenge the Minister to resist it in any way at all. I also congratulate my noble friend on a political lifetime of campaigning for women and girls. She is an inspiration to so many of us on these Benches.

It has also been a delight to hear speeches from almost all around the House, particularly from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown, who has made such an important contribution to the legal position of women with his ground-breaking ruling. I commend him for turning out on a Friday, at the end of a long week, to speak up not just for his Benches but for men who support this. It has been a pleasure to hear speeches from the Liberal Democrat and Bishops’ Benches. I look forward to the Conservative Benches being just as encouraging when the Minister speaks.

Not only do I support the Bill but, I am pleased to say, it has the full support of the Official Opposition. The Labour Party has confirmed that in government we would ratify the Istanbul convention. The elimination of violence against women and girls should be a priority in any society. We are completely committed to ensuring that women and girls can live safe and secure lives wherever they live and whatever they choose to do. As my honourable friend Sarah Champion said in another place:

“Ending violence against women and girls requires a radical, seismic, societal shift in power and attitudes”.—[Official Report, Commons, 16/1/16; col. 1113.]


This Bill may be a small contribution but it is a very important one and shows the role our Parliament can play in tackling that challenge.

We heard a catalogue of appalling violence from the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, the noble Baroness, Lady Uddin, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. I do not need to rehearse that but, as my noble friend Lady Gale said, we need to understand that this kind of violence perpetrated against women and girls is gendered violence. It is not an accident that such a disproportionate amount of it is directed against women and girls. The context in which that happens is global inequality—an inequality of power and access to the levers of power. We need to understand that there is a connection with that even in our own society. We have a female Prime Minister but there are only seven other women in the Cabinet and only 29% of MPs are women. We saw recently the celebrations following the by-election just before Christmas. The result of that by-election meant that, throughout our history, as many women had been elected to the other place as there were men sitting there on that day. In this House, only 26% of us are women.

Therefore, we are making real progress. However, the reality is that the context of this issue here and elsewhere around the world means that we have to take particular steps to address the challenges faced by women and girls. That is the context for this Bill. It is that which makes the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence—the Istanbul convention—so important. As my noble friend Lady Gale said, it is a unique, ground-breaking piece of legislation which offers an international framework for tackling violence against women and girls.

We heard in the other place that the Government are committed to ratification of the Istanbul convention, which is very welcome. Therefore, I hope that they will give the Bill a fair wind and provide a timetable for ratification. I hope they will also tell the House what legislative changes will be needed to ratify it. I look forward to hearing about the ETJ raised by my noble friend Lady Gale. As the Bill will cut across devolved and reserved powers, can the Minister tell the House what discussions the Government have had with the devolved Administrations about implementing this?

This short Bill provides us with the steps that we need to take a key move forward in the battle to eliminate violence against women and girls. I hope very much that the House and the Government give it wholehearted support.