In July last year I was contacted by Michelle Livesey from Key 103 radio station. Michelle had been reporting on the tragic case of Clare Wood, a young lady in my constituency who was brutally killed by her former partner. He had a history of serial domestic violence against women; Clare had no way of knowing this.

At the inquest into Clare’s death, Bolton coroner Jennifer Leeming called for women to be given the right to know if their partner has a history of serial domestic violence. This idea had already been proposed by the Association of Chief Police Commissioners in its 2009 report, Tackling Perpetrators of Violence Against Women and Girls.

Michelle had already been in contact with Clare’s father, Michael Brown, who had told her that he was determined to see the creation of a disclosure law so that women and men in Clare’s position are able to find out about any potential risk that they face, and make an informed decision about the future of their relationship.

Having spoken in detail with Michael and Michelle I agreed with them on the need to change the law in this way, and we partnered with Fabulous magazine to help bring the issue to national attention. Between us we created the Respect & Protect: Clare’s Law campaign.

Fabulous magazine had undertaken polling which showed that 91 per cent of women agreed a person has a right to know if their partner has a recorded history of domestic violence, and that 77 per cent would be likely to leave a relationship if told that their partner is a serial domestic abuser.

I quickly arranged for the parliamentary launch of the Respect & Protect: Clare’s Law campaign, so that Michael could come to London and explain to MPs why he felt a change in the law was necessary, and I wrote an article for LabourList to help publicise the campaign. Our launch was attended by prominent MPs such as former home secretary Alan Johnson, and we were able to get the support of MPs from across the political spectrum which made our campaign for change much more persuasive. We were joined by a number of domestic violence charities who agreed to support the campaign, and between us we were able to discuss the best way forward.

I also wrote to the home secretary giving her an outline of what we were campaigning for, and asking her to meet with myself and Michael Brown to discuss the campaign in more detail. Her supportive response was picked up by the Mail on Sunday and led to members of the public getting in touch to share their stories and back our campaign.

Following the meeting Key 103 launched their petition so that we could show the government the strength of support for the issue, and this was accompanied by details of the campaign being promoted on Fabulous magazine’s Facebook page for their readers to ‘like’ and to discuss the merits of the proposal.

When parliament returned after the summer recess I tabled a number of written parliamentary questions to try and establish what support is given to victims of domestic violence, how many men and women are killed each year at the hands of their partners, how many men and women are repeat victims of domestic violence, and how many men and women are serial domestic abusers. These questions helped ensure that the government knew our campaign was active, and also helped us to obtain statistics showing just how grave the threat of domestic violence remains.

In October 2010 Michael and I met with the home secretary. She was extremely moved by Michael’s story and was very sympathetic to his call for a change in the law. Within days she had announced the launch of a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme consultation. The consultation put forward three different options, and I joined other concerned individuals and organisations in submitting my response. Key 103 were also able to submit their petition, which I know proved to be extremely powerful.

At this time the government’s legal aid, punishment and sentencing of offenders bill was passing through parliament. This provided an opportunity to try and introduce Clare’s Law, so I drafted and tabled amendments to the bill, and wrote an article for Progress to provide an update on the campaign. Due to a lack of parliamentary time we were unable to debate them in the House of Commons, so I met with Labour representatives in the Lords to arrange for them to be tabled when the LAPSO bill returned there.

To keep the campaign in the public eye I used oral questions in the House of Commons to ask the home secretary if she would be legislating to introduce Clare’s Law, and also asked the justice secretary if he would support the amendments we had tabled in the House of Lords. Both responded in positive terms, and I became increasingly encouraged that we could make Clare’s Law a reality.

In January this year I was delighted to meet with domestic violence campaigners from Sunderland who had been collecting signatures in support in Clare’s Law, and who visited parliament to hand their petition to myself and Julie Elliott MP so that we could add their support to our campaign.

The LAPSO bill then returned to the House of Lords. Our amendments were selected for debate, and Baroness Gale led the argument for Clare’s Law. In his response for the government, Lord McNally indicated that he was minded to wait for the government’s response to the consultation before making any announcement, but his consensual tone and willingness to work with the opposition on this issue meant we did not have to push the amendments to a vote, and could retain the strength of our cross-party campaign.

We then arranged to deliver our petition to No 10 Downing Street so that the prime minister could see the strength of public support for Clare’s Law. This final push garnered significant media coverage and allowed Michael another opportunity to make his case eloquently and passionately.

Our campaigning over the past year led to Monday’s announcement by the Home Office that they will be piloting Clare’s Law over the next year in four areas: Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire and Gwent. The government’s consultation showed that 85 per cent of respondents supported the introduction of either a ‘right to ask,’ ‘right to know’ or both, and I am delighted that one of their pilots will take place in Greater Manchester, where Clare was so tragically murdered in 2009.

It’s been a pleasure to work with Michelle and Michael over the past year, and the success of the Respect & Protect: Clare’s Law campaign has given me great heart. Campaigning from opposition is never easy, but yesterday’s announcement showed that it can be effective and generate real change. We were able to construct a simple message and action for the government, and then use a variety of campaigning methods – focused on both parliament and publicity – to keep the pressure on the government and encourage them to act.

Early on in our campaign Michael told me he thinks that had Clare known about her killer’s past she would have left him; it could have saved her life. There can be no greater argument for the government to act then the need to protect the people that they serve. As an MP whose constituency is in a pilot area I will be working with the relevant authorities to put Clare’s Law into action and empower men and women to protect themselves.

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Hazel Blears is MP for Salford

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Photo: HazelBlears.co.uk