Violence against Women and Girls
Tom Hayes Excerpts(2 days ago)
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Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)
I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for securing this debate.
“I’ve been told online I’m not pretty enough to be worth raping. I don’t go into some bars in Bournemouth because I don’t feel safe.”
Those were the words of a young woman I met last week at a Bournemouth University students’ union question and answer session.
“I wear headphones when I walk at night with one AirPod in so I can talk to my mum on the phone”,
in case anything happens,
“and the other out so I can hear what is going on”.
Those are the words of a young girl I met last Friday from 22nd Bournemouth Girl Guides and Rangers.
“I wear my hair in a ponytail but my hood up because I don’t want someone to grab my ponytail, pull me into a hedge, and rape me.”
Those are the words of another young woman from Charminster I spoke to recently.
Alison from Moordown feels unsafe as a woman in the town centre. Desiree from East Cliff does not go out once it gets dark because she is too vulnerable. Fifty per cent of the population of Bournemouth and Britain are being forced to change who they are and how they live their lives. The response to a new social media video by AFC Bournemouth has been striking. It shows how a walk home from the football might not be the same for everyone, because the street lighting can be so low. Enough is enough.
The latest annual figures show that 723 offences of the rape of a female took place in Dorset, yet in the year ending June 2024 there were 36 prosecutions and 14 convictions for rape. That is not acceptable in any way, shape or form, and we have to stop it. I commend the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole organisations working to support victims of domestic abuse, including the Bournemouth Churches Housing Association, the Waterlily Project, Victim Support and STARS—Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services.
The focus should always be on the victim—the survivor —and the children who live with domestic abuse every day. We who have worked in the world of domestic abuse know that if public policy continues to ignore the abusive partner, we cannot address the roots of abuse, so what will the Minister and her Department do to provide more perpetrator programmes in our country as part of her new VAWG strategy? I welcome the Labour Government’s commitment to halving the incidents of violence against women and girls, but that will be the tip of the iceberg, because as more people report crimes, many more will need to support.