Jess Phillips has used a Commons debate on International Women’s Day to read out the names of all the UK women killed by men over the last year.
The Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley reads out such a list on an annual basis, making this the fourth year running that she has done so. It is compiled by feminist activist Karen Ingala Smith.
“I could feel the nervousness in the room that I wouldn’t finish reading the list within seven minutes,” Phillips said, referring to the time restriction being placed on MPs’ speeches in the debate.
“That is how we should feel every single minute of every day, nervous that one of our constituents will wake up dead. The fear and tension that we felt in our bodies… is what victims of domestic violence feel every minute that they walk around their houses.
“The second they wake up in the morning, they feel frightened, and that they’re going to have to walk on awkward egg shells all day long. These women need us in this place to hear their names and hear their stories, so that we can change and make it so that next year’s list might be at least a little bit shorter.”
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