CAMPAIGNERS welcomed the return of the Domestic Abuse Bill to Parliament today, insisting that measures are more urgent now that such abuse is increasing during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Bill was stalled last year after PM Boris Johnson decided to prorogue Parliament and then call a general election.

It had its second reading in the Commons after women reported a spike in levels of physical and psychological abuse.

More than two-thirds of women responding to a Women’s Aid survey this month said they have experienced more abuse, with 72 per cent of them saying their abuser has more control over their life since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

And more than a third of survivors with children reported that their abuser had shown more aggression and controlling behaviour directed towards their children.  

More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of women reported that Covid-19 has made it harder for them to end their abusive relationship.

Eighty per cent of women experiencing abuse said informal support from family, friends or colleagues “stopped completely or decreased” as a result of people observing social distancing rules.

Women’s Aid acting CEO Nicki Norman welcomed the Bill’s return to Parliament but added that “significant changes are required.”

She called for the Bill to deliver a “safe child-contact and family court system,” stronger housing rights for abuse survivors to enable them to escape an abuser and equal protection and support for migrant women.

Women’s Aid is also calling for at least £48.2 million in emergency funding to help local services cope during the coronavirus crisis.

Labour has outlined amendments to the Bill that would ensure that 10 per cent of the £750m charity support announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak earlier this month would be ring-fenced and fast-tracked for domestic-abuse charities.

The Home Office said that £3.1m will be given to specialist services — split between councils, children’s charities and police and crime commissioners  — for children affected by domestic abuse.

But shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said that this “falls woefully short of the amount needed.”

Campaign group Women Against Rape has also called for the government to give women cash and emergency housing to help them leave abusers, adding that “funding charities is not enough.”

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland promised, in opening the second reading debate, that help will be available for all victims of domestic abuse during the coronavirus outbreak.

The existing Civil Order framework can be used to remove a perpetrator from the family home, he said.