Dewsbury parliamentary candidate Paula Sherriff has backed a proposal to introduce a Bill to help tackle Violence Against Women and Girls. Labour is announcing today (Monday) that, if successful in the next General Election, the Party will introduce a piece of legislation to help protect victims of domestic and sexual violence, make the criminal justice system more effective at bringing those who commit violent acts against women to justice and do more to teach young people about healthy, respectful relationships.

The Bill will include the following measures:

– A new Commissioner for domestic and sexual violence who will work across Government making sure the needs of victims are reflected in Government policy

– Making sex and relationship education compulsory and updating the content for the 21^st century so we tackle online safety and online exposure to pornography too

– Publishing domestic abuse and sexual violence performance tables for every police force across England and Wales to shine a light on poor performance and raise standards

– Stronger action to protect people online, including the issue of ‘revenge porn’ and blackmail using sexual images

On backing the Bill, Paula Sherriff said:

“It is important that action to tackle violence against women and girls is seen as a serious priority for a future Labour Government. That is why I am backing this Bill. Under this Tory-led Coalition, we have seen more rapes, incidents of domestic abuse and child sex offences reported to the police, and yet fewer cases are being heard in court and convictions have gone down. This means more criminals are getting away with it and more victims are being let down.

“People in Dewsbury and across the country want to see tougher action to stop those who commit violent acts against women and girls. That is what this Bill does, but we need a Labour Government to enact it. Only the Labour Party is putting women centre-stage.”