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The flagship £36m strategy will finally be unveiled 18 months after Labour was elected with a manifesto promise to halve violence against women and girls within a decade
David Maddox Wednesday 17 December 2025 22:41 GMT- Bookmark
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Sir Keir Starmer’s government is to tackle misogynistic, toxic influencers like Andrew Tate head-on with compulsory lessons on healthy relationships for all secondary school pupils.
The flagship £36m strategy will finally be unveiled on Thursday – 18 months after Labour was elected on a manifesto promise to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade.
The strategy will see secondary school teachers given specialist training to talk to boys and girls about issues such as consent, and children who show harmful behaviour towards their parents, siblings or while in relationships will be signed up to special programmes.
The much-anticipated plans will focus on tackling the root causes of abuse, and come as the latest statistics show that nearly 40 per cent of teenagers in relationships are victims of abuse, while more than 40 per cent of young men hold a positive view of Tate.
Sir Keir said: “Every parent should be able to trust that their daughter is safe at school, online and in her relationships.
“But too often, toxic ideas are taking hold early and going unchallenged. This government is stepping in sooner – backing teachers, calling out misogyny, and intervening when warning signs appear – to stop harm before it starts.
“This is about protecting girls and driving forward education and conversation with boys and young men, which is a responsibility we owe to the next generation, and one this government will deliver.”
open image in galleryAndrew Tate outside the Bucharest Court of Appeal in October last year (Getty)It follows repeated calls by The Independent for a strategy to tackle these issues, as well as our Brick by Brick campaign, which was backed by the prime minister, to build two safe houses for women who have been victims of domestic abuse.
Sir Keir said at the time: “I am so pleased to back The Independent’s Brick By Brick campaign to support victims of domestic abuse. I don’t only support the campaign, but I want the campaign to go on and get bigger.”
Under Labour’s latest initiative, all secondary schools in England will teach students about healthy relationships, following concerns about the impact of self-described “misogynistic” influencers, like Tate, who appeal to young men by pushing an agenda characterised by toxic masculinity.
A new helpline will also be set up for teenagers to get help with concerns about their own behaviour in relationships.
Campaign groups including Refuge have indicated that they will be poring over the details of the long-awaited plan to ensure that the flagship policy lives up to its billing and provides the funding needed.
open image in galleryKeir Starmer promised a VAWG strategy in his election manifesto 18 months ago (House of Commons/UK Parliament)Measures already announced as part of the cross-government strategy include specialist rape and sexual offences investigators for every police force, better support through the NHS for those who have experienced abuse, and a £19m funding boost for councils to provide safe housing for domestic abuse survivors.
The latest measures for educating children are backed by a £20m package, with £16m invested by the government, which is working with philanthropists on an innovation fund.
Responding to the announcements made about the strategy so far, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said the commitments “do not go far enough” to see the number of people experiencing abuse start to fall.
She said: “Today’s strategy rightly recognises the scale of this challenge and the need to address the misogynistic attitudes that underpin it, but the level of investment to achieve this falls seriously short.”
Dame Nicole also said that overburdened schools were not being equipped with the infrastructure needed to safeguard child victims of domestic abuse.
The schools that will take part in the pilot scheme will be chosen next year, while ministers are aiming for all secondary schools to teach healthy relationships by the end of this parliament.
open image in galleryVAWG minister Jess Phillips says the strategy will ‘prevent women and girls from actually being harmed in the first place’ (PA Wire)It comes as Department for Education-commissioned research found that 70 per cent of secondary school teachers surveyed said their school had actively dealt with sexual violence and/or harassment between children.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Having spent years working in a refuge for women experiencing domestic abuse, I know just how much early intervention could have changed lives. We cannot simply respond to harm after it happens; we must give young people the understanding and tools they need before attitudes harden into harm.”
Police and social services will also be given new guidance on teenage relationships to help them tackle abuse, and the legal framework for domestic abuse will be looked at in order to address the experiences of teenagers.
It comes after Sir Keir vowed to look at whether younger people should be recognised as domestic abuse victims following the murder of 15-year-old Holly Newton by her stalker ex-boyfriend in Hexham, Northumberland, in January 2023.
VAWG minister Jess Phillips said: “For too long, the scale of violence against women and girls has been treated as a fact of life in our country. I am determined our groundbreaking strategy will prevent women and girls from actually being harmed in the first place.
“Put together from today, it will deploy the full power of the state to introduce the largest crackdown to stop violence perpetrated against women and girls in British history.”
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