Today was a big move forward - over to the Government

The Government made a big step today - committing to action on the "unconscionable" claim that a woman consented to violence

An update:

We think today in parliament brought promise of very good news.  At the Public Bill Committee in parliament, Jess Phillips made an incredible speech to move the amendments to the Domestic Abuse bill to end rough sex defences, proposed by Harriet Harman, Mark Garnier, Laura Farris and supported by more than 80 MPs from 6 parties.

Alex Chalk responded for the Government - and promised the Government will come back with its own proposals by Report stage of this bill.  This is what we had hoped: that the amendments would keep pressure on the Government to make its own proposals, and today we heard more on the intent, if not yet the detail, of those proposals.

In particular, Alex Chalk said:

  • That Harriet Harman and Mark Garnier had run a formidable campaign and have engaged very closely and constructively with the Government.

  • It was “unconscionable for a defendant to say that the death of a woman, and it is almost invariably a woman, is justified, excusable, or legally defensible, because that woman had engaged in violent and harmful sexual activity, which resulted in her death, simply because she consented. That is unconscionable, and this Government is committed to making that crystal clear.”

  • The Government will make sure that their proposals go further than the scope of the Domestic Abuse bill, ensuring that (for instance) women who’d only just met the men will be protected, leaving no “wiggle room” for defendants.

  • Speaking of his time as a defence and prosecution barrister: “your job as a defence advocate is to exploit whatever wiggle room there is in the law – our job here is to close that down.”

  • And that the Government’s own proposals will “give practitioners – but more importantly people - the absolute clarity on what is and what is not acceptable.”

  • And gave assurance that the Government’s aim is to set out their approach to “rough sex” in time for the bill’s report stage.

Jess Phillips MP agreed on this basis to withdraw the “rough sex” amendment for “no consent to death” saying as she did so: “I am very pleased to hear that we will have intention at Report, and I speak entirely for the hon member for Wyre Forest and for Camberwell & Peckham in that regard.”

More on this when we see what the Government do next, but this is a huge step forward.