Politics

Labour domestic violence speech: Focus on the big ideas, not stats wars

Yvette Cooper must sell the revolutionary agenda at the heart of her Domestic Violence campaign, not get tied up in the numbers

July 28, 2014
The Shadow Home Secretary's stance on domestic violence is bold, but she needs to show that to the public
The Shadow Home Secretary's stance on domestic violence is bold, but she needs to show that to the public

Labour's summer campaign, billed under the rather dramatic umbrella title of “The Choice,” got properly under way today with a speech from Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Domestic Violence.

Following leader Ed Miliband's speech on Friday, in which the famously clumsy bacon sandwich eater called for an end to “photo-op politics,” the party will hope that Cooper's speech, and subsequent policy announcements, will start to give the public a clear picture of the “big ideas” Miliband cites as his main strength. Cooper has a big idea—the question is whether the public will get to hear about it.

Tackling domestic violence is a policy area which could do with an brainwave or two. Figures obtained by Labour last year found that, while there had been a 10 per cent increase in the reporting of domestic violence since 2010, there had been a 13 per cent decline in the number of cases referred by police to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Unfortunately for the party, if this morning's Today programme is anything to go by, this could be another area in which Labour is held back by lacklustre media performance (or a hostile media, depending on your point of view). Brought on to talk about the speech, Cooper became mired in a dispute with presenter John Humphries over her figures.

Cooper's speech referenced the fact that the number of “community resolutions” employed to deal with domestic violence cases has more than doubled since 2009, which she says is too forgiving of perpetrators. A community resolution is a way of dealing with minor offences without criminalising the perpetrator. For example, a teenager caught tagging up his neighbour's garage with spray paint might be made to apologise and clean up the graffiti. Garry Shewan, a senior police officer brought on to Today to defend the use of community resolutions, said that these resolutions are only used for minor offences which come under the definition of Domestic Violence, such as damage to property, and victims must agree that this is the best course of action.

Cooper was in a tricky spot, left to defend her use of figures which probably cover a wide range of cases, some supporting her points, some Shewan's. This was unfortunate, as Cooper is clearly ready to discuss the deeper issue of how domestic violence is dealt with in law, rather than the way it is handled under existing law by the police. Today she announced the creation of a Violence Against Women and Girls bill, one function of which would be to ban the use of community resolutions in domestic violence cases.  Labour are considering introducing a specific offence covering domestic violence, though Cooper's office say the precise details are still under consideration. At present, domestic violence is covered by a range of relevant legislation largely based on anti-harrassment law.

Samantha Callan, who leads domestic violence research at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), says a change in the law which defines domestic violence would be welcome. Callan says domestic violence legislation needs to acknowledge the fact that “patterns of behaviour” from abusive partners can keep people living in fear even if no individual act looks particularly appalling to outsiders. A specific criminal offence could help with this.

It remains to be seen how all of this will play out in the long term, but if Labour's summer campaign is to be a success, the party must be clear and strident about those “big ideas,” without getting too bogged down in slanging matches and statistics wars.