9th February 2026
The Equality Party welcomed the publication of the UK Government’s Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls and its companion Action Plan, published at the end of 2025.
The strategy represents an unprecedented, cross-governmental commitment to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) through coordinated action spanning prevention, pursuit of perpetrators, support for survivors, and a wider whole-of-society approach.
Kay Wesley, Leader of the Equality Party and a local Councillor in Congleton, said:
“This strategy recognises the scale of the crisis — violence against women and girls is rightly treated as a national emergency. We welcome the Government’s focus on prevention, enforcement and victim support. But now the hard work begins: turning commitments on paper into real-world change.”
The Government strategy is designed around four interconnected pillars and backed by multi-agency collaboration.
Prevention and early intervention is the first pillar. The strategy places significant emphasis on stopping violence before it starts by:
- Supporting schools to challenge misogyny and teach healthy relationships and consent.
- Acting decisively against harmful online content and influencers.
- Launching awareness campaigns to help the public recognise and intervene in harmful behaviour.
“Early intervention is critical,” said Cllr Kay Wesley. “Misogyny and harmful gender stereotypes begin long before someone reaches the courtroom. We need long-term national culture change programmes, reaching into every part of society and for all ages, and one that recognises that misogyny and patriarchal attitudes are systemic and embedded. A radical, persistent, long-term effort is required.”
The second pillar is the Relentless pursuit of perpetrators. The strategy commits to strengthening detection, policing and offender management by:
- Embedding specialist VAWG units and public protection expertise into every police force.
- Using intelligence and technology, including tools adapted from counter-terrorism, to detect and disrupt high-risk offenders.
- Training and awareness for the health service, education, employers, local government, and the public, to identify and act on signs of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
“We must ensure perpetrators are found early, managed effectively and brought to justice,” Cllr Wesley said. “That means professional training, intelligence-led policing and improved prosecution pathways. It is appalling that less than three percent of alleged rapes in this country result in a suspect even being charged.”
Supporting Victims and Survivors is the third pillar. The plan pledges to reform how survivors access justice and services by:
- Improving trauma-informed court processes.
- Ensuring a whole-of-government approach to housing, healthcare and legal support.
- Reforming commissioning so that services meet real survivor needs.
“Every stage of the criminal justice system needs reform, from fully-trained and trauma-informed policing to a court system that delivers justice”, added Cllr Wesley. “Too often victims are retraumatised by the process and withdraw from it, or if they persevere, they find themselves put on trial in court. This has to stop.”
The final pillar is A Whole of Society Approach. The strategy stresses that ending VAWG requires action by government across all departments, civil society and community groups, employers, workplaces, education, the media and the broader public.
The strategy compares VAWG to organised crime or terrorism because there is ideology and culture behind it, it makes extensive use of social media and the dark web, and young people and adults can be groomed and influenced to take part in it.
“Violence against women and girls is not just a criminal justice issue — it is a societal one,” said Cllr Wesley. “We must work together to shift norms and behaviours that have tolerated or minimised violence for too long.
“For example, the Jeffrey Epstein affair. If Epstein had been a mafia boss or drug baron, or leader of an extremist terror group, would all these rich and powerful men be expressing mild regret about their involvement with him and getting away with it? I think not.”
The Equality Party welcomes the strong focus on tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation within the Strategy, recognising the scale of the crisis — with children accounting for around 40% of all recorded sexual offences and over four million adults estimated to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood.
The Strategy commits to acting on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This includes introducing mandatory reporting for professionals working with children, removing time limits for civil claims, strengthening safeguarding and vetting systems, improving data sharing, creating new offences to tackle online abuse and AI-generated material, and establishing an Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs alongside a new national police operation to pursue organised exploitation.
Cllr Wesley said:
“The Government is right to treat child sexual abuse as a national emergency. The scale of harm is devastating and lifelong. But we must be honest — this is an area where Britain has produced reports for years and too often failed to deliver real change. Children need more than promises and inquiries. They need sustained funding, proper accountability, and institutions that are brave enough to confront abuse wherever it occurs, including within families, communities and powerful organisations.”
The Equality Party supports many elements of the strategy but calls for four essential areas of improvement to ensure that strategy translates into measurable progress.
The first is Leadership and Cultural Change
The strategy recognises that societal norms and gender inequality underpin VAWG, but lacks a clear plan to change public attitudes, myths and bias.
“It is vital to understand that violence against women and girls is both a cause and a consequence of women’s inequality. We need sustained public education and culture change programmes that address young people, adults, politicians, juries, workplaces, the media, families and society as a whole.” Cllr Wesley said. “Justice isn’t just about prosecutions — it’s about changing attitudes to prevent these crimes.”
Second, the Equality Party calls for Independent Accountability. The strategy pledges regular Ministerial Group meetings and progress reviews, but the Equality Party urges the government to add an Independent Violence Against Women and Girls Commissioner with powers to assess progress and report publicly. They should set and report on clear, measurable targets for prevention, justice outcomes and survivor support.
Institutional Reform is the third demand by the Party. Reports in recent years have highlighted organisational failures — from police vetting flaws to slow cultural change in public bodies.
For example, high-profile inquiries into failures to prevent some police officers’ predatory crimes have called for systemic reform across vetting and prevention systems, but many of the recommended changes have still not been implemented.
Finally, The Equality Party is calling for a change in the law to make sex a protected characteristic for classifying hate crime.
Currently, hate crime legislation does not explicitly include misogyny, sexism or sex-based hostility alongside other the protected characteristics race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity.
“A clear legal recognition that misogyny is a hate crime would send an unmistakable message about how serious we are about ending violence against women,” Cllr Wesley said.
In conclusion, The Equality Party supports the Government’s VAWG strategy as a significant step toward preventing violence, protecting survivors, and prosecuting perpetrators. The Party also welcomes the scale of ambition and cross-government coordination.
However, words must translate into action. Cllr Kay Wesley observed:
“The Prime Minister has written a forward to the strategy stating his own passion for the subject and his personal determination to halve VAWG by the end of this parliament. This is laudable, but his words must be matched with actions.
“If Peter Mandelson had been friends with an extremist terrorist or drug baron, would he have made him Ambassador to the US? No he would not. But crimes against girls and women are considered less important. Why?
“The Action Plan includes a great many positive steps, but they will not happen unless we recognise that challenging the patriarchal structures in which VAWG thrives is not just about having the right tools – it is also a mindset. The Prime Minster and many in positions of power must change their own mindset if we are going to realise the ambition to halve violence against women and girls.
“We need leadership that lives the values described in the Strategy. We must see cultural change, measurable targets, independent accountability and reforms that reach into every part of society. Only then will women and girls — and all survivors — live free from fear and harm.”
References and Background
UK Government Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2025
- The Strategy defines violence against women and girls to include domestic abuse, stalking, sexual violence, harassment, online abuse, female genital mutilation, and other behaviours disproportionately affecting women and girls.
- A national summit on men and boys is planned for 2026 as part of the strategy’s implementation.
Dame Laura Cox Report on Harassment and Bullying in Parliament (2018)
Baroness Casey’s Report into Standards in the Metropolitan Police (2023)
Contact: press@equalityparty.org.uk Kay Wesley: 07711 459740
The Equality Party 