Police forces will be forced to provide more protection to victims of domestic abuse under a Labour government, the party has said.
“Raneem’s law”, named after Raneem Oudeh who was killed along with her mother, Khaola Saleem, by Oudeh’s ex-partner in 2018, will require police to respond faster to reports of domestic violence and to consider immediate use of orders to protect women.
In a move widely welcomed by campaigners in the sector, the legislation would also require every police force to appoint a dedicated officer to have oversight over all civil orders designed to protect women and girls against violence.
The law will put domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms to make sure victims are responded to urgently, a policy already announced by Labour after a successful pilot in the Northumbria police area.
It also seeks to address technology and communication failings that leave women at risk. Forces will have to provide data on police applications for civil orders to the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office, and Labour said it would also push forward the national rollout of an electronic link between the family courts and police forces so that civil orders and injunctions are widely shared.
Campaigners have long argued that orders designed to protect women from abuse, such as domestic violence protection notices (DVPN) and domestic violence protection orders (DVPO) – are not used widely enough or are ineffective because breaches are not followed up.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the law would mark a “step change” in tackling violence against women and girls, which the party has pledged to halve within a decade.
“Missed opportunities cost lives and far too many have already been lost. We cannot stand by while more women like Raneem and Khaola are so badly failed by the system charged with keeping them safe,” she said.
Oudeh, 22, and Saleem, 49, were stabbed to death by Oudeh’s estranged husband, Janbaz Tarin, in Solihull in August 2018 after he had subjected her to stalking, domestic violence and coercive control for more than a year.
In 2022 an inquest found that failings by West Midlands police “materially contributed” to the deaths. It heard that Oudeh had made at least seven calls to the emergency services in the run-up to her death. On the night she and her mother were killed they called 999 four times, but despite the fact Oudeh had a non-molestation order against her former partner, no officers were sent to respond.
Welcoming Labour’s announcement, Saleem’s sister Nour Norris said her family had been scarred by the agony of domestic violence. “Our plea is for a future where no other family suffers as we have. Raneem’s law will help to make sure that is the case,” she said.
Harriet Wistrich, the director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, who supported Oudeh’s family through the inquest, said the planned law was “hugely welcome” but said officers needed thorough mandatory training in domestic violence and should be held accountable for failures to protect women.
“It’s really positive that there is an attempt to ensure some meaningful change comes from this tragic case,” she said. “But you can have all the guidance and rules in place – it has to be enforced to make a meaningful change.”
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
