Last week began with International Women’s Day and I was
pleased to put on record my thanks to women in local democracy in my role of
co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Local Democracy, thanking
thousands of inspiring women from parish councils who were at the core of the
nation’s pandemic response and urging more women to stand for election in the
upcoming local elections in May. I also commended local Cornish health
campaigner Kathryn Davidson, who has worked with me in raising awareness of
endometriosis over the past year, and welcomed that the Department of Health
opened a contribution into women's health matters.
While the week started off in an uplifting way for women, it
ended in a much darker and tragic place, after police investigating the
disappearance of 33 year old Sarah Everard in London found her body and
arrested a suspect for her murder. These awful events have caused the whole
nation to reflect on the prevalence of crimes against women. My thoughts are
with Sarah’s loved ones.
In light of this national conversation, the Government has
reopened its call for evidence around Violence Against Women and Girls to
provide an additional opportunity to feed into the consultation and to help
inform the development of the Government’s next Tackling Violence Against Women
and Girls Strategy.
You can participate in the call for evidence by filling out
the survey via the below link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-call-for-evidence
This week also sees the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
Bill come before Parliament, tough new laws to keep people safe, including many
vital measures to protect women from violent criminals as well as Kay’s Law,
which is being introduced after a woman died at her ex partner’s hands while he
was released under investigation.
You would have thought that these proposals would have
support across Parliament, but sadly on Sunday the Labour Party confirmed their
MPs would be voting against them. This appears to be a kneejerk reaction in
response to the poor handling of vigils in London by the Metropolitan Police,
and another example where the opposition try to court popular opinion without
understanding the wider circumstances.
Yes, the handling of the vigils on Saturday by some
Metropolitan Police officers was disgraceful, and this should be investigated,
but by using this as a pretext to vote against this Bill and grab some
headlines, Labour are voting against tougher sentences for child murderers and
sex offenders, killer drivers and measures that protect the vulnerable. We should not conflate the current Covid
restrictions on large gatherings with what is proposed in this Bill.
As well as looking at new laws and national strategies to
tackle these terrible crimes, I am also taking action both in Parliament and
locally around broader issues, as well as more parochial ones. This week I am expecting
to stand up in the House of Commons and praise the work of our excellent Police
and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez in making sure that Cornwall was the
first area outside of London to set up the virtual remand hearings in police
custody during this pandemic.
On Friday I also met with our new Superintendent, along with
the excellent Truro BID team and local police earlier in the week, to discuss
crime issues and policing requirements for Truro. There is lots to do in this
particular area but I am pleased our police are listening and are committed to
working with the business community to improve things in the town as Covid-19 restrictions
continue to lessen and we look to recover from the COVID -19 pandemic
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