Thank you, prime minister, for backing our campaign to help the victims of domestic abuse

All political leaders take domestic violence seriously, but Sir Keir Starmer has promised to intensify the government’s efforts to reduce the scourge and to protect more women from it. His striking pledge at the election to “halve violence against women and girls in a decade” may not have come with a detailed and costed set of policies attached, but it serves as a guarantee that a step-change will at least be attempted at the highest level of government.

The Independent has sought to approach the problem from the opposite end: by launching the Brick by Brick campaign, in partnership with the charity Refuge, to raise the money to build just one safe house. This will provide somewhere for a woman fleeing domestic abuse to go, so that she can rebuild her life, “brick by brick”.

Ours is a bottom-up campaign, small in scale, realistic in its objectives but ambitious in what we hope it can achieve as a catalyst for change.

We are delighted, therefore, that the prime minister has lent the campaign his personal support, and pledged that he and his cabinet ministers will not only donate to the campaign, but that they will as a government prioritise the provision of more support to the victims of domestic abuse.

Sir Keir told The Independent that he had been horrified by the case of Jane Clough, a nurse killed by her former partner after he was let out of prison on bail against the family’s wishes. He met her parents when he was director of public prosecutions. He said: “That’s why I’m determined that those at risk should have more support, places they can feel safe, and be able to access the services they need to rebuild their lives.

“And it’s why 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.”

We want that too, and have been encouraged by the support the campaign has received from Dame Helen Mirren, Olivia Colman, Cherie Blair, Penny Mordaunt, Billie Piper and Queen Camilla. We hope that this formidable cohort of strong women will help to hold the government to its promises and drive forward the social change that is needed.

Attitudes towards domestic abuse have changed a great deal in recent decades. The police no longer regard “a domestic” as a matter that is outside their remit. The mechanisms by which men exercise coercive control over women, with the threat of physical violence often buried deep, are better understood. People are more likely, we hope, to notice the signs and to report their suspicions – this certainly applies to professionals in positions of responsibility.

Of course, the root causes of men’s violence towards and abuse of women are deep and difficult to deal with, but one thing that we do know is that women and girls usually feel that they cannot escape their abuser – and that a place of safety is the best way to break the immediate cycle.

So thank you, Sir Keir, for supporting our campaign. We look forward to it snowballing so that the bottom-up meets the top-down, and government, charities and individuals can work to help the thousands of women who leave abusive relationships with nowhere to go – and to reduce the violence and misery suffered by so many thousands more.