WE NEED not just legislation but a cultural revolution in Britain to deliver on Labour’s mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade, experts told a packed fringe meeting in Liverpool today.

End Violence Against Women Coalition director Andrea Simon warned that “we have a crisis of abuse of children by children,” driven by boys’ consumption of internet pornography.

She highlighted a survey by charity Equally Ours published earlier this year, which found young people have a poorer understanding of rape and consent than older generations.

It found that barely half of 18 to 24-year-olds recognised rape is still rape if the victim doesn’t fight back, compared to over 70 per cent of adults overall, and just 42 per cent of the age category recognised that being in a relationship or marriage does not mean consent to sex can be assumed — while 87 per cent of over-65s recognised this.

Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips said ending violence against women meant tackling women’s economic disadvantage.

Access to housing for those fleeing domestic abuse was key and years-long waits for council housing were unacceptable, she stressed.

Ms Phillips said with councils under such financial pressure, services to assist victims of abuse would inevitably suffer.

Other speakers addressed the crisis in the criminal justice system, with women waiting over two years on average for a reported rape to go to trial, and changing policing techniques, with perpetrator-focused strategies like the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Atlas causing a sharp increase in the charge rate for reported cases of stalking and harassment, which can help prevent such behaviour escalating lethally.