Labour call to tackle violence against women and girls

24 March 2023

Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to halve violence against women and girls if Labour forms the next government.

But West Midlands Police Federation branch chair Rich Cooke is warning that targets are no substitute for motivated, properly trained, resourced and locally based bobbies, which will require significant investment, and is not simply a question of officer numbers.

Reacting to a speech by Sir Keir on Thursday, Rich explained: “There is no place in society for violent crime directed at anyone, let alone against women and girls on the streets or in the family home. At the same time convictions for rape remain woefully low, mainly due to the progressive defunding of the service over many years and crazy disclosure requirements. Do policing on the cheap and there are consequences.

“I was pleased to hear Labour is committed to at least halving knife crime – this is a major issue in the West Midlands and is taking the lives of too many of our young people and therefore a massive concern to frontline colleagues and detectives. I welcome the promise to improve charge rates for serious crimes and reduce court backlogs, although it remains to be seen how this would be done.

“They also need to unambiguously support tactics such as stop and search, done properly, driven by intelligence and engagement. I want a commitment from Sir Keir that a Labour government would properly pay and resource the police so that we can deliver on these promises. Labour should commit to collective bargaining for policing now if it really wants to give us that confidence. I would have liked to have heard more about that and recognition that police workloads are already way too high.”

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has promised an additional 13,000 officers would be recruited by Labour, in addition to the 20,000 new police being hired by the Conservative government. However, these new PCs and PCSOs would be deployed to neighbourhood policing, Ms Cooper said.

In his speech Sir Keir, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “As somebody who has worked in criminal justice for most of my life, I also know that far too often, the inequalities that still scar our society - class, race, gender - do find an expression in the very system that is supposed to protect us all, without discrimination.

“This is personal – it’s Labour's plan to tackle the crimewave gnawing away at our collective sense of security. But it's also unfinished business in my life’s work to deliver justice for working people.”

The Labour leader also promised to “modernise policing” following a highly critical report by Baroness Casey into the Met Police which accused the force of being racist, misogynist, and homophobic. “Policing must start to serve women and minorities, no more excuses,” said Sir Keir.