Women and girls all across Wales should be able to go about their daily lives without fear of abuse and violence.

Yet sadly, we know that simply isn’t the case for some as things stand.

Nearly 1-in-3 women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their lifetime.

Violence against women and girls remains a major issue in today’s society and it is clear we need to go further and faster in taking bold action to prevent it.

Take public transport for example, violence against women and girls on the rail network is rising with more than 11,000 offences recorded last year.

In Wales specifically, sexual offences on trains and at stations is up 29% in the last year alone.

It is not just trains. We’ve heard harrowing stories such as a woman being sexually assaulted at a bus station whilst reading a book, a predator approaching a schoolgirl on a bus and asking her to perform a sex act on him, and a woman being sexually assaulted in the middle of a busy bus station.

Many constituents have also contacted me about the lack of street lighting in their communities as it is often making them feel unsafe.

Several councils have been cutting back on street lighting in a bid to save cash, but I would argue this is at the expense of safety and it must be reserved.

I recently challenged the Welsh Government over what steps it is taking to make women’s safety a top priority.

Whilst there has been progress in this area from the Welsh Government it is clear that more needs to be done.

We need to see action to ensure women and girls are safe when using our public transport network and that means investing in things like better CCTV cameras and lighting.

Many women are often reluctant to report incidents as some feel that their complaint will not be taken seriously or they are embarrassed.

The Government needs to be working with a range of stakeholders to truly tackle this problem.

Women’s safety is a right, not a privilege, and this cannot go on.

As ever, if there is anything I can do to help going forward, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

You can email [email protected] or call my office on 01633 215138.