Cherie Blair answers

Cherie Blair answers

Cherie Booth QC (aka Cherie Blair CBE) has campaigned for support for domestic abuse victims for years and has had a long-standing involvement with the charity Refuge. She explains its importance and highlights the welcome changes the Domestic Abuse Bill could bring.

You are a patron of Refuge, what is the function of this charity and how important is it?

I’m proud to be a patron of Refuge. My support of Refuge began in 1995 when I first became a board member and then became a patron in 2004. The services Refuge provides are lifesaving and life-changing. Every day the charity supports over 6,500 survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of gender-based violence in its network of specialist refuges and communitybased services. The charity also works tirelessly to change attitudes around domestic abuse and campaign for the law and policy change needed to better protect survivors.

How has the pandemic affected domestic violence?

In today’s world the work of Refuge has never been more needed. The Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult for everyone, but it’s been extremely dangerous for survivors of abuse, who during lockdown have endured months at home with abusive partners, and with reduced options to get away from the perpetrator and seek help. Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline saw a large increase in demand during lockdown, which has been sustained as restrictions have been eased and tightened again. The charity has kept all of its refuges open during the pandemic, but unsurprisingly its services have been very full as there are not enough refuges in this country to meet demand.

Fortunately the Domestic Abuse Bill is shortly due to return to the House of Lords for its second reading and could become law by the end of the year, so there is a real opportunity to make the legal changes needed to prevent abuse and ensure women and children get the support they need.

Do you think the Domestic Abuse Bill 2020 will help?

That the Domestic Abuse Bill has finally reached the last stage of its passage through parliament is something to celebrate in itself. This Bill has been held up by two general elections and the unprecedented prorogation of Parliament and the Covid-19 pandemic. On its long journey it has been amended and strengthened. What was initially a fairly narrow criminal-justice focused Bill now has the first legal duty for local authorities to provide safe accommodation (including refuges) for survivors of abuse, greater protections for survivors in the family courts and priority need for housing for all survivors.

However, the aim of the Bill is to transform the response to domestic abuse, but without further changes and significant funding for services, it will not achieve that. The legal duty to fund refuges could be ground-breaking, but only if the money needed to increase the number of specialist refuges is provided alongside it. Another huge gap is the lack of protection for migrant survivors with no recourse to public funds who are too often left in the desperate situation of staying with an abuser or facing destitution.

What is the impact on children and how might that be helped by the current Bill in Parliament?

The Bill will include the first statutory definition of domestic abuse, and after campaigns by a variety of charities, the definition will include economic abuse and name children as victims in their own right. This is welcome, but simply defining problems will not solve them. Refuge and others are calling for changes to be made to the benefits system, particularly Universal Credit, so that it helps survivors’ access financial support from the state when they need it and for services for child survivors of domestic abuse to be properly funded.

Several changes to the criminal justice system will be made in the Bill, most notably the creation of a new type of order – Domestic Abuse Protection Orders – which will be able to be applied in both the criminal and civil courts and the outlawing of the so-called ‘rough sex’ defence. But there is more to be done in regard to criminal justice too. Refuge is also campaigning for the threat to share intimate images without consent to be made a criminal offence in the Bill. This would bring England and Wales in line with Scotland in criminalising this horrific form of abuse. One in seven young women have experienced a ‘revenge porn’ threat, but too often they are told by the police to wait until the perpetrator has shared the photo or video, as only then is it a crime. The Bill provides an opportunity to close this gap in the law.

Covid-19 has arguably brought more attention to domestic abuse and the needs of survivors than ever before. There is much to welcome in the Domestic Abuse Bill, but many more changes are needed before this long-awaited piece of legislation can be described and truly transformative. ■

Cherie Blair