Tackling violence against women and girls is not just a priority for my government. It is central to who I am.
Before entering politics, when I led the Crown Prosecution Service as director of public prosecutions, I worked with victims of rape, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and I saw, up close, the lifelong damage these crimes cause. And I learned that when systems fail victims, the harm does not end, it deepens.
Justice must begin with listening to victims. They are why I refuse to accept that abuse is inevitable. And they’re why I made halving violence against women and girls a central commitment of this government.
That is an ambitious goal. Having spent the best part of two decades trying to drive up prosecutions, I know the challenges we face.
But let me be clear: this is a national emergency. It requires an immediate and uncompromising response.
And it also requires an honest conversation about the causes of abuse. Because violence does not exist within a vacuum. Our work cannot begin only when violence occurs – it must start much earlier.
That means confronting an uncomfortable truth: misogyny is woven into the fabric of our institutions and stitched into every aspect of modern life. And it continues to cause real harm.
Despite the brave actions of victims, campaigners and my fellow parliamentarians, too often, misogyny is excused, minimised or ignored. The arguments of women are dismissed as exaggerated or “one-offs”. That culture creates permission. It tells some men that boundaries are negotiable and accountability is optional. And it teaches young boys, watching from the sidelines, that disrespect can be rewarded.
It exists in sport, culture, law and beyond. And, of course, in our politics. No institution can pretend it is immune.
That is why I am determined to transform the culture of government: to challenge the structures that still marginalise women’s voices. And it’s why I believe that simply counting how many women hold senior roles is not enough. What matters is whether their views carry weight and lead to change.
Others want to take us backwards. This week, Suella Braverman announced that Reform UK would scrap the Equality Act if it got into government. A piece of legislation developed by my colleague Harriet Harman to address decades of discrimination. Against working people. Disabled people. Pregnant women. A reckless decision that would undoubtedly put power back into the hands of the already powerful.
So I am determined to lead from the front. Because if we want to change culture, leadership matters. But our work must stretch much further than Westminster. Not just into our workplaces around the country, but on to our phone screens too.
Because in the digital age, misogyny spreads faster, travels further and does more damage than ever before. Platforms that were meant to connect us have too often become spaces of intimidation and exploitation. Keyboard cowards commit violence without having to leave the comfort of their own sofa.
One of the most devastating examples is the sharing of non-consensual intimate images. The type of story that, as a parent, makes your heart drop to your stomach.
Too often, those victims have been left to fight alone – chasing takedown of harmful content site to site, reporting the same material again and again, only to see it reappear elsewhere hours later. That is not justice. It is failure. And it is sending a message to the young people of this country that women and girls are a commodity to be used and shared.
So today, my government is changing that. We are putting tech companies on notice: any non-consensual intimate image that is flagged must be taken down within 48 hours. We must create a system where a victim reports once, and it’s removed everywhere, on multiple platforms, and automatically deleted if it is reuploaded.
We are also designating creating or sharing these images as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, so they are treated with the seriousness they deserve.
These measures build on our violence against women and girls strategy, published before Christmas, with more than 200 commitments across prevention, victim support and prosecution.
They reflect a simple principle: the burden of tackling abuse must no longer fall on victims. It must fall on perpetrators – and on the companies that enable harm.
This is a national emergency. But it is also a test of our values. I am determined that this country will meet it.
Keir Starmer is UK prime minister
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