I escaped the horror of domestic abuse - now I'm a Lancashire councillor I want to help others do the same

The Reform UK-run authority voted unanimously to establish the ‘member champion’ post during a meeting at which one councillor put herself forward for the role - because of her own experience of domestic abuse.

County Cllr Maria Jones told the full council gathering how she had endured several years of having her life controlled by her now former husband. The Reform representative for the Preston Rural division said she wanted to help “many more women survive like I did”.

The call for a member dedicated to the issue came from Labour opposition councillor Samara Barnes - herself a domestic abuse survivor, as she had previously revealed in the County Hall chamber back in 2021.

She noted that there had been support for the role when the county council set its budget under the previous Conservative administration in February.

County Cllr Barnes said that while violence against women girls had risen up the list of both council and police priorities - and that the county authority had “some brilliant teams doing serious work” - their efforts were still too “fragmented”.

“Services are spread across departments and no one, senior political figure at Lancashire County Council is fully accountable for driving this agenda forward. That’s a gap - and it matters,” she explained, adding that her preference was for the subject to be the focus of a cabinet-level post.

The meeting heard that in 2023, there were almost 36,000 incidents of domestic abuse reported in Lancashire - an average of 59 per day - with stalking, harassment and violence with injury being the most common offences. Over the last 12 months, there have been nearly 6,000 reports of rape and other sexual offences in the county.

In a powerful and harrowing speech, County Cllr Jones told colleagues of how she had suffered at the hands of her then husband more than a decade ago. She said that while their marriage had been “wonderful” for the first three years, it later turned into a daily nightmare.

“All of a sudden, anything I tried to do was not good enough. Very quickly, he would get angry - the smallest thing would lead to him losing his temper.

“Very soon anger turned into rage and involved throwing things around the house, screaming and pointing at me - blaming me for every little thing that went wrong - and it wasn't my fault.

“I got to a point where I felt like I was treading on eggshells - trying my best not to upset him in any way - because I was frightened…how he would react. This made no difference - things just got worse,” County Cllr Jones recounted.

She said she was not even permitted to go out to work or socilaise.

“He was controlling my life - I was not allowed to have friends. And at this time I was in my early 20s and wanted to improve my education. However, even this was taken away from me - and I was not allowed to pursue any opportunities or interests.

“It was all about him - anything I did had to be for his benefit,” added County Cllr Jones, whose speech was greeted with applause and expressions of thanks and support from across the political divide.

She said she wanted to be a “focal point” for the authority's efforts to support women now living in a similar situation to her - and to draw upon her “lived experience” to do so.

"I was blessed to receive the help and support I needed at the time I needed it - and this has made me determined to do everything I can...to help women who are experiencing the horror that I did," County Cllr Jones said.

While an individual will be formally appointed to the member champion role at a later date, the post will - at County Cllr Barnes' suggestion - always go to someone with direct personal or work-related experience of violence against women and girls.

Green Party group leader Gina Dowding said she could not think of "anyone better” than County Cllr Jones to do the job.