It contains measures that are all but certain to improve the lives of some domestic abuse survivors in the UK.

The traumatic, dangerous practice of allowing abusers to cross-examine their victims in family courts will finally be banned. A statutory government definition of domestic abuse will also be introduced for the first time, one that includes economic abuse – a devastating but under-discussed form of coercive control.

The bill will also boost the powers available to courts to block perpetrators from contacting those they abused, place a legal duty on councils to provide victims and their children with a secure home, and see high-risk offenders forced to take lie detector tests when released from prison.

Finally, the first domestic abuse commissioner has been appointed