Tackling violence against women and girls an ‘obsession’ for PM, MPs told

Tackling violence against women and girls is an “obsession” for Sir Keir Starmer, a Home Office minister has said, as she outlined new anti-stalking policies in the Commons.

Jess Phillips announced on Tuesday that victims will be given the “right to know” who their online stalker is, alongside a review of stalking legislation to determine whether and how the law can be changed.

Stalking protection orders – which can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims, or contacting them – will also be made more widely available, the Home Office has confirmed.

The new approach will see courts able to impose such orders after a conviction even where none was in place before a trial, contrary to the current process where one has to have been in place already.

If someone is acquitted, courts will still have the power to apply protection orders directly if there is enough evidence to suggest that the person is still a risk to someone, the Home Office added.

New “right to know” guidance was inspired by the experience of broadcaster, activist and former Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp, who was stalked online but told by police they could not disclose the offender’s identity, even after he was arrested.

The man is serving a 30-month prison sentence with a lifetime restraining order, handed down after his appearance in court, which was the first time Ms Thorp learned his true identity.

Ms Phillips described Ms Thorp’s experience as an “ordeal” which “is not right, and she is not the only victim to have endured this”.

She told the Commons it is the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade and added: “That is not something that me and the Home Secretary (Yvette Cooper) just fought for and, like, people are rolling their eyes at us – this comes completely from the top, right from the Prime Minister.

“It is an obsession of his.”

She had earlier said: “Depression, anxiety, fear, trouble sleeping, loss of confidence – these are just some of the ways that stalking can ruin lives.

“The victims are subjected to an onslaught of psychological and emotional terror that can go on for months or years, and even if the perpetrator is caught and the stalking comes to an end, the impact of being tormented day after day, night after night persists.”

Conservative shadow Home Office minister Matt Vickers paid tribute to Ms Thorp and said her experience was “harrowing to hear”.

He vowed to work with “those across the House in doing everything we can to tackle violence against women and girls”, and said his party had “elevated violence against women and girls to a crime type that police leaders must treat as a national threat and ensured victims can always access professional support”.

Ms Phillips replied: “The previous government was not without care or attention in this building and on the statute books with regards to violence against women and girls, the difference it actually made on the streets I would say is still to be questioned, and that is why you need robust measures to make sure that the nice words we write on goatskin actually mean something.”

Jo White, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, warned “social media provides the perfect disguise” for stalkers and asked: “Who knows if they’re sitting on their phone around the corner or tapping on a computer on the other side of the world?”

Ms Phillips replied that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online and stalking protection orders, which the Government is announcing how we will make them more robust today, can be used to tackle online stalking as much as any other type”.

Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokeswoman, urged the minister to tackle a “one-sized fits all approach” to stalking, “because that could leave a legal hole for victims where it isn’t related to domestic abuse or a previous relationship”.

She told the Commons: “Sadly, this is a topic of which I have some first-hand experience and, from my own knowledge, police can find it easier to deal with these crimes via harassment legislation rather than stalking, and I know that police can often assume that the perpetrator is a former partner when the conditions of a restraining order are breached, for example, thereby failing to recognise the wide range of circumstances that can lead to these frightening situations.”

Ms Thorp had previously said: “These new measures will empower victims to regain some much-needed control of their lives, and police to bring abusers to justice.”

A major joint report published in September saw the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the chief inspector of constabulary and the boss of the College of Policing make recommendations for improvement as they detailed the findings of an investigation launched in response to a so-called super-complaint raised two years ago by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust (SLT) on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium.

The complaint – made through a process which allows charities and other bodies to raise widespread problems which could affect public confidence in policing – set out concerns including how there had been flawed investigations, instances where stalking was not being properly identified, officers “minimising or trivialising” such behaviour and the risk of victims being seriously hurt or killed not being recognised.

Emma Lingley-Clark, interim chief executive of the SLT, said: “We hope these changes will begin a transformation of the way all agencies work together to improve the recognition and management of stalking, and better support those affected by this devastating crime.”