Scottish Lib Dems seek urgent meeting with Justice Secretary over violence against women

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP has today sought an urgent meeting with Neil Gray, Scottish Justice Secretary, after failing to receive a response to her party’s letter to the First Minister about tackling violence against women, which was sent more than two months ago.

In her letter to Neil Gray, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP said there is a “growing backlog of promised measures that seem nowhere close to being delivered”.

During First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called on John Swinney to act with urgency to tackle violence against women and girls. He said that it should not take victims, including those like Vikki Soloman and Stacy Hunter, to lose their lives before proper action is taken.

The party has also repeatedly criticised the delayed implementation of Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which give police and courts to power to remove a domestic abuser from a victim’s home immediately after an incident.

These protections have still not been rolled out, despite parliament passing them over five years ago. At the start of July, Scottish Liberal Democrats wrote to the First Minister, asking him if he would set out a timeline for bringing them into force. As at the time of writing, he has yet to respond.

Yi-pei Chou Turvey’s letter to Scottish Justice Secretary Neil Gray is as follows:

Dear Neil,

I am writing to you following the Programme for Government published this week and your government’s statement commitment to tackling violence against women and girls.

You have rightly identified this violence as a “pernicious situation” and “a malignant malevolence”. You have highlighted that increasing reports of sexual crime are of “deep concern”, as they should be to all of us in this parliament.

As you will be aware, three Scottish women died at the hands of men this July. I want the Scottish Government to succeed in stamping out the violent and misogynistic attitudes that lay behind these deaths, but it should not take victims to lose their lives before proper action is taken.

There are still men in this country who do not see women as human beings. Rather, they see them as bodies that they can grab and hit, when they please. They see them as bodies that they can hunt and kill, when they grow tired. This has always been true, and it is still depressingly true now.

Far too many women are also suffering mental abuse and coercive control at the hands of their current or former partners. I am particularly concerned by the prevalence of abusers who weaponize and exploit our justice system, whether through the police or the courts, to exert further control over their victims

From the delays to the sexual offences court to the failure to implement key domestic abuse protections, there is a growing backlog of promised measures that seem nowhere close to being delivered. The only way to break this cycle is to translate warm words into action. Will you, therefore, meet with me to discuss how exactly the Scottish Government plans to implement measures to tackle violence against women, and will you also set out a clear timeline for bringing Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders into force?

Yours sincerely,

Yi-pei Chou Turvey

MSP for North East Scotland

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson