Domestic abuse victims across the Eastleigh constituency have been supported by their local MP Mims Davies during discussions with the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission Claire Bassett and Cabinet Office Minister Chloe Smith, over plans to make it easier for people to register to vote without compromising their safety.
Mims said,
“Voting is a right and a freedom that should be exercised by everyone eligible to take part. In the year in which we celebrate 100 years since the first women were given the vote, it is vital that no woman feels she must choose between personal safety and her right to vote. When a woman flees from home she leaves a lot behind including her connection often to that community. I have worked with those women to feed in their views, must we must do more.
“When visiting a local refuge I spoke with victims of domestic abuse from across the UK who told me of their concerns over how registering to vote once again could compromise their safety, and the safety of their friends and family. That is why these new changes, enabling nurses, midwives and refuge managers to support victims of domestic abuse to register to vote anonymously is so important.
“I welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission this week and hear how, through the Commission’s work with Women’s Aid and the Royal College of Midwives, refuge managers, local authorities and midwives are actively being provided with guidance in supporting victims of domestic abuse as these changes come forward.
“As Eastleigh’s MP I am proud to work alongside a Prime Minister who is absolutely committed to protecting and supporting victims of domestic abuse, as outlined during a speech at 10 Downing Street to mark International Women’s Day last week, and again at Prime Minister’s Questions this Wednesday.”
At PMQs the Prime Minister said:
“I can guarantee that funding for refuges will continue at the same level as today, because I know how critical the support is to vulnerable people at a time of crisis. We will ring-fence the funding for short-term supported housing overall, including for refuges, for the long term indefinitely. That means that no refuge should worry about closing or have any doubts about our commitment to ensuring that we provide a sustainable funding model for them.”
Changes coming into force within the anonymous voter registration scheme will make it easier for people to register to vote without compromising their safety. The changes include:
· Broadening the professionals able to provide an attestation to include Police
Inspectors, medical practitioners, nurses, midwives and refuge managers.
· Expanding the list of court orders to include Domestic Violence Protection
Orders and Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders.
There are an estimated 12,000 survivors of domestic abuse living in refuges as well as those living elsewhere and these changes will make it easier for those people to register to vote anonymously and to take part, without compromising their safety, in our electoral system.
Next week the Government’s Secure Tenancies Bill is due to receive its Second Reading in Parliament, enabling secure tenancies to be granted in cases of domestic abuse.