Claire Sugden welcomes move to combat coercive control in Northern Ireland

Domestic abuse victims in Northern Ireland will be protected under Westminster legislation, Stormont’s former justice minister has said.
The PSNI records 30,000 incidents of domestic abuse every yearThe PSNI records 30,000 incidents of domestic abuse every year
The PSNI records 30,000 incidents of domestic abuse every year

Measures to combat coercive control, which includes intimidation and psychological abuse, are to be contained in the Domestic Abuse Bill.

A series of different laws can be used to prosecute aspects of domestic abuse but there is no overarching offence.

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Ex-minister Claire Sugden, who campaigned for changes to the law, said: “My heart is bursting.”

The PSNI records around 30,000 domestic abuse incidents every year.

Coercive control has been an offence in England and Wales since 2015, but the collapse of Stormont two and a half years ago has delayed changes to law in a range of public policy areas.

Women’s Aid has campaigned for change because violence is often preceded by coercive control.

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Ms Sugden wrote on social media: “It is government’s hidden shame for allowing it to happen and doing little to tackle it before now.

“During my time in office, I made tackling domestic abuse my overarching priority.

“My biggest regret of the Stormont collapse is not fulfilling my promise to get domestic abuse law onto statute while minister.”

She said coercive control comes through psychological abuse.

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“It is usually the reason why victims don’t just leave and also the beginning of physical violence. An accurate description is feeling like always walking on eggshells.”

Labour MP Stella Creasy said she was proud of the organisations that worked for the law change.

“Finally, finally, the voices of women in Northern Ireland are starting to be heard as equals, not afterthoughts,” she said.

UUP leader Robin Swann said: “The Ulster Unionist Party has long stated that it was totally unacceptable that Northern Ireland was the only part of the UK where victims were not protected from coercive control.

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“We have led the calls for Westminster to step in in the absence of a functioning local Assembly and Executive.

“People need protecting and the police and courts need powers to take action. Nobody in Northern Ireland should be made to suffer because certain political parties cannot agree to share power and work in the best interest of all our people.”

Westminster has become increasingly involved in devolved matters over recent weeks.

Last week MPs overwhelmingly passed amendments increasing the likelihood of same-sex marriage and abortion legislation for the Province.