SAVE OUR SHELTERS

One thing I've learned over the years, is that a campaigning journalist's work is never done.

I felt a certain amount of satisfaction in 2015 when my GiveMeShelter campaign to raise awareness of local authority cuts to domestic violence refuges resulted in a £5million pledge from the then Chancellor George Osborne. 

But within just two years, the Government is failing vulnerable women and children again. There are new faces in power and sadly, new ways to try and pinch pennies from some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Now ministers want to remove refuges from the welfare system, which will mean women can no longer pay with the Housing Benefit that is responsible for 53 per cent of total refuge funding. If this life-threatening cost cutting measure is allowed to progress, it would mean the last guaranteed source of income for refuges run by charities such as Women's Aid is lost.

Everyone has an opinion of The Sun but it never fails to engage with this cause, which is why I took this new campaign to its natural home. The Sun on Sunday's editor Victoria Newton did not hesitate to lend her support when I approached her and thus #SaveOurShelters was born.

As I write this in January 2018, it is in full-flow - communicating a vital message to readers and politicians alike. I very much hope they are listening.