The Home Office has launched a consultation on strengthening the law on domestic abuse by explicitly stating that it covers coercive and controlling behaviour as well as physical harm.
Offences the new law could cover include threatening a partner with violence, cutting them off from friends and family or refusing them access to money in order to limit their freedom.
Controlling behaviour is currently covered by legislation that covers stalking and harassment but it does not explicitly apply to intimate relationships.
In launching the consultation Home Secretary Theresa May is calling for the views of both victims as well as those who work with them.
She said police are currently not acting swiftly enough when domestic abuse complaints are made and said any change in the law must be backed up with cultural change among officers.
She said: “I am clear that there must be an immediate and lasting change in the police response to domestic abuse. This means a change in culture right from the officers in charge to those on the frontline.”
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