We warmly welcome Andy Burnham as our new Prime Minister. As he steps through the door of 10 Downing Street and begins navigating a whole range of issues, we’re here to remind him that ending men’s violence against women and girls (VAWG) must be a top priority.
We're heartened by some of the Prime Minister's previous comments as Mayor of Greater Manchester, when he spoke out about violence against women, and the need for men to change their behaviour.
The government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade – a huge task. Two years in, there has been much progress, but we are yet to see the scale of ambition needed to shift the dial.
Following the 2024 General Election, we were clear that the ambition to halve VAWG will only be met if the government addresses the structural and root causes of domestic abuse and wider violence against women. Since then, we have been encouraged by the inclusion of clear commitments to pursue perpetrators and to focus on prevention and early intervention in the cross-government VAWG strategy Freedom from Violence and Abuse. However, the significant funding investment needed to make the generational change that has been promised has not yet emerged.
We will be reminding the new Prime Minister and his Cabinet of the key actions needed to end the perpetration of domestic abuse, which we set out in our 2023-28 strategy, Stopping the Harm, and our 2024 manifesto. To achieve this, it’s vital that the state response to perpetrators matches the scale, nature and urgency of the problem.
Respect looks forward to working with the new government in London and the North, where we have a strong presence through our Accredited Members.
We stand ready to work in partnership, in order to hold perpetrators to account and stop them from causing harm.
