This month our CEO Sue Coleman met with MPs Mark Garnier and Julia Buckley to discuss the work we do in their constituencies. She shares an insight into their discussion.
“Mark Garnier has been Conservative MP for Wyre Forest since 2010 and is familiar with our work, but still took the time to meet with myself and two senior colleagues from our services in Worcestershire for an update on the work of the organisation. He was particularly interested to hear about the impact of the work that he had done with Harriet Harman MP- to legislate against the use of ‘rough sex’ as a defence for the killing of a partner in the Domestic Abuse Act that was passed in 2021. His concern for this issue arose following the violent death of one of his constituents where her ‘boyfriend’ used ‘rough sex gone wrong’ as a defence for killing her.
In early October I met with Julia Buckley, Labour MP in her office in Shrewsbury. Julia was hearing from us for the first time, and was really interested in how she could be of help to us. Having worked in local authorities to generate external funding for a range of projects, Julia was particularly keen to offer us advice and support to secure the resources that are essential to meet need across the region. She also told us about an All Party Parliamentary Group that was being set up to look at how the perpetration of domestic abuse could be tackled and asked her staff to find out more so that WMWA could offer evidence from our work to inform to their deliberations”