Oral Answers to Questions

Jessica Morden Excerpts

Thursday 20th May 2021 Commons Chamber

The Attorney General was asked—

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

What steps he has taken to increase the number of prosecutions relating to domestic violence.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

What steps he has taken to increase the number of prosecutions relating to domestic violence.

[Jessica Morden]

The criminal justice system is facing unprecedented backlogs, with survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault forced to wait more than a year for their day in court. The Queen’s Speech was an opportunity for the Government to address these failings, but it was an opportunity missed. Labour’s “Ending Violence Against Women and Girls” green paper was announced this week and is ready to go. Will the Attorney General support it?

[The Attorney General]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question, which focuses on an extremely important issue of domestic abuse, which is one that I and the entire Government feel strongly about. In fact, I am sure everybody in this Chamber does. It is this Government who introduced the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. In a recent case that I conducted myself in the Court of Appeal, the offender’s sentence for extremely violent domestic abuse was increased from nine years to 15 years on my application. That is how seriously we take domestic abuse, and that is how seriously it is taken in terms of punishment and the crime. The point that the hon. Lady makes is that we should prioritise domestic abuse in the criminal justice system, and I can confirm that we do that. It is a very high focus for this Government and for the criminal justice system.