Labour will set up a national refuge fund

Today it’s International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women. Yvette Cooper has marked this by announcing that Labour will set up a national refuge fund and is committed to continuing support for rape crisis centres.

Cooper, writing in the Guardian, says that Labour will use the £3million they would save by abolishing police and crime commissioners to do this.

This pledge is significant given that under the Coalition, cuts have meant that between 2010 and July 2014  the number of specialist refuge services decreased from 187 to 155. And, as Cooper notes “the proportion of rape and domestic violence cases reaching prosecution is falling, not rising.”

Consequently, as well as pledging to set up a national refuge centre, Cooper also reiterated Labour’s other policies regarding violence against women:

“We will bring in new local and national standards for policing, prosecutions and support services and a new national commissioner to make sure standards are met, as well as strengthening the law. And perhaps most important of all, we will insist on action to prevent violence in the next generation.”