Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, in response to figures released today by the Office for National Statistics on Intimate Personal Violence and Partner Abuse, said:

“These shocking new figures show that 30% of women and 16.3% of men have been victims of domestic abuse. That’s equivalent to almost 8 million people in our country.

“If there was this level of violence at football matches, there would be a national outcry. Yet, all too often domestic violence is ignored and hidden behind the net curtains, while victims of domestic abuse are met with silence.
 
“Support and justice for victims is getting worse not better as a result of the Government’s failure. Today’s figures show recorded crimes of domestic abuse going up, but the proportion passed on by the police for prosecution going down once again, from 13.4 per cent two years ago to just 10.5 per cent. And that means more criminals and abusers are getting away with it.

“There has been an appalling lack of leadership from Theresa May. Why has so little been done to investigate this drop? The Home Secretary is failing to make ending violence against women a priority for the criminal justice system and the clock is being turned backwards as a result.
 
“The scale of police cuts mean specialist domestic violence units have been disbanded. Changes to legal aid have made it harder for victims to take out injunctions against their abusers and cuts to local authority budgets mean local support services are under serious strain.
 
“This Government is letting down victims of domestic abuse. We cannot continue to ignore this problem. Tomorrow I will be joining campaigners and activists to call for justice as part of the One Billion Rising movement. 
 
“The Government must act. They cannot keep turning their backs on the hidden crime and forgotten victims of domestic abuse.”