Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry told Labour Conference this week that Labour, in office, would review the law because, ‘For too long, women in cohabiting couples have been left with no rights when those relationships come to an end’. Thornberry also said women who reported sexual harassment at work should get the same protection as whistleblowers, and the laws protecting women from stalkers would be strengthened.
Jo Edwards, chair of Resolution’s family law reform group, said the announcement ‘should be welcomed by cohabiting couples, together with practitioners who see the significant financial hardship caused by our current, out of date law’.
Also at Labour Conference, in Liverpool this week, shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed never to scapegoat the judiciary or the legal profession, and accused the government of undermining confidence in the rule of law by criticising lawyers.