Hansard

I am very glad to be opening for the Liberal Democrats in this important debate.

Before I go any further, I thank Maggie Chapman for her typically excellent contribution. I salute her indefatigability in sharing with us appalling examples of the online abuse that she has received. I am aware that many female colleagues in the chamber will have received similar abuse, and I stand with them in friendship and solidarity and give them my support. Such abuse only underlines the reach of the challenge that is before us.

I am also grateful for the tone that the Government has sought to foster on the issue and for the tone of Shirley-Anne Somerville’s motion.

Violence against women and girls is a national emergency. It is one that is deeply rooted in misogyny and the patriarchy, enabled by silence and worsened by systems that still fall far below our expectations and fail survivors far too often. Today’s debate gives us the chance to speak with one voice in this chamber in condemning it. Violence against women and girls has no place in our country, in our homes or society, or in our workplaces or classrooms. However, just saying that is not enough. We have to act, and we must do so with the seriousness that the emergency demands of us.

The United Nations’ 16 days of activism campaign begins this week, and it shines a light on something that every woman in this country already knows—that the abuse and harassment that they have faced for far too long has now shifted into new venues and frontiers. The digital sphere has become a deeply damaging front line in this age-old problem. We have heard something of that today.

I was reflecting on the fact that the first time that I spoke in a debate on this issue, on the eve of the 16 days of activism, was nine years ago. At that time, AI was barely an academic concept. Now, the systems that are in the phones in our pockets, in our computers and in our laptops allow people to track someone’s location without their knowledge. AI can be weaponised to create intimate images that were never even photographs. Women are being harassed, threatened and manipulated from behind anonymous accounts. This crisis is evolving faster than we can pass laws that are meant to protect women.

Violence is not just moving online—tragically, it is rising everywhere. The most recent crime figures show a 22 per cent increase in reported domestic abuse in the past year alone. Reported rape and attempted rape have risen by 11 per cent. That is outrageous, and it is an indictment of our ability to grapple with the issue. Behind every statistic is a woman who was victimised when she picked up the phone and asked for help. Far too many still feel that they cannot do so.

I pay tribute to my colleague Beatrice Wishart, who has been a tireless and compassionate champion for women and girls, especially through her work as deputy convener of the cross-party group on men’s violence against women and children. Her leadership is invaluable, but Beatrice will be the first to say that leadership across the chamber must be collective—it must involve men, too. This is an issue on which we must all speak with one voice.

My party believes that the Government must take the following actions to address the emergency. It must finally commence part 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021. The emergency protections that it contains could be shielding women from danger right now; instead, they have sat on the shelf for years. Every delay has consequences, and survivors cannot wait any longer.

We must swiftly add sex as a protected characteristic under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. In the next session of Parliament, we should review whether a separate piece of legislation, such as the approach that was recommended by Baroness Helena Kennedy, is needed to properly tackle misogynistic harassment and hate.

We must protect girls in our schools. Reports of sexual harassment, coercion and assault among pupils have grown significantly in number, but guidance for schools and local authorities is inconsistent. Girls deserve to learn without fear, and teachers deserve clarity and support—we must ensure that they get both.

We must make it easier for survivors to report abuse and find help. Currently, too many women are forced to retell their traumatic experience to a revolving door of agencies and departments. That is why we propose establishing a single point of contact on abuse in every local authority, so that survivors have to tell their story only once and can be guided through the system with dignity and without retraumatisation.

We need to address abuse in our criminal justice system and train lawyers and judges to understand when legal abuse and coercion through the courts are taking place. We will all have casework examples from our constituencies in which an abusive partner who has declared bankruptcy and qualifies for legal aid will use that reality to try to ruin their victim financially.

We must also ensure that every housing officer and front-line worker is trained to identify domestic abuse and respond properly to survivors. Front-line staff are often the first people to see what is happening behind closed doors, and they must be equipped to act.

Finally, we must adopt a presumption that, in cases of domestic violence, the perpetrator and not the victim is the one to leave the shared home. It is barbaric that so many women and children are still forced to flee the place where they should feel the safest. If someone chooses violence, they, not the person whom they harmed, should lose their home.

This is not a women’s issue or a party-political issue; it is a national issue and a human issue, and it is one that demands every ounce of our collective political will. Scottish Liberal Democrats stand ready to work with every party in the chamber to stamp out gendered violence, wherever it occurs and whatever form it takes. Women and girls across Scotland deserve nothing less.