NOT FAR ENOUGH

UK Government’s domestic abuse reforms fails victims – Liz Saville Roberts MP Consultation announced following Plaid Cymru Private Members’ Bill

Domestic abuse reforms, announced today by the Home Secretary, do not go far enough, according to the MP who called for reforms through a Private Members’ Bill.

Liz Saville Roberts MP – Plaid Cymru’s Justice spokesperson – welcomed the consultation but warned the proposals announced by the Home Secretary will fail to tackle the problem of victims being cross-examined by their own perpetrators.

Ms Saville Roberts introduced a Private Members’ Bill in December 2017 which would have prevented convicted stalkers and domestic abusers, or anyone with a restraining order from bringing vexatious claims to the family and civil courts, in order to further abuse their victims. The Bill would prevent, in any circumstances, a perpetrator cross-examining their victim.

The Bill gained the support of every party represented in the House of Commons.

The reforms announced by the Home Secretary today stop short of Liz Saville Roberts’ proposals, ensuring only that victims will be able to be cross-examined via video link or behind a screen.

Commenting, Plaid Cymru’s Justice spokesperson, Liz Saville Roberts MP said:

“This consultation is an important step forward following the Private Members’ Bill I put forward in December, but the reforms proposed do not go far enough and will fail victims.

“Convicted stalkers and domestic abusers, even when subject to a restraining order, are able to bring vexatious claims to the Family and Civil Courts for the sole purpose of bringing their victims into the same room as them, to be abused once again. Victims are being forced to sit in waiting rooms with their perpetrators and are being cross-examined by their perpetrators in court.

“While allowing victims to be cross-examined via video link or behind a screen is a step forward, the reality is that a convicted perpetrator should never be allowed to cross-examine their own victim in court, whether behind a screen, via video link or in person.

“The Home Secretary needs to bring forward the Courts Bill and allow Parliament to debate it properly and amend it accordingly.”

Domestic abuse reform to end victims’ court ordeals: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/domestic-abuse-reform-to-end-victims-court-ordeals-2zhdxc7hp

STAND WITH CATALONIA

The current struggle in Catalonia, one of Spain's wealthiest and most productive constituent nations, is a long one. Catalonia has a distinct history dating back almost 1,000 years. Before the Spanish Civil War it enjoyed broad autonomy but this was suppressed under decades of Francisco Franco's brutal dictatorship from 1939-75.

When Franco died, Catalan nationalism was revived and eventually Catalonia was granted autonomy again, under the 1978 constitution. A 2006 statute surrendered even greater powers, which boosted Catalonia's financial clout and described it as a "nation", but Spain's Constitutional Court systematically reversed much of this in 2010, to the anger of Catalan authorities.

Angered by having their autonomy watered down as well as by years of recession and cuts in public spending, Catalans held an unofficial vote on independence in November 2014. More than two million of the region's 5.4 million eligible voters took part and officials declared that 80% had backed secession.

Back in 2015 Catalan Nationalists won Catalonia's election and set to work on holding a binding referendum, defying Spain's constitution, which states that Spain is indivisible.  The relative silence from those other centralist states within and without the EU is sadly to be expected. 

There has been a fundamental deliberate failure to understand that sovereignty rests with the people not the state. And in the end the people have the basic right to determine their future, not the politicians in Madrid.