A DISTRICT MP has welcomed a Government move to class ‘parental alienation’ as a form of domestic abuse.

Philip Davies – whose Shipley constituency includes Cullingworth and Denholme – had been campaigning to get the act of keeping a child away from one of its parents without good reason included in domestic abuse legislation.

Newly-released draft guidance from the Government now includes parental alienation.

Mr Davies said: “Those individuals – including the men and women who have written to me with their distressing personal experiences – who are being denied the chance to see their children grow-up or be actively involved in their lives for no good reason whatsoever now have a message from the Government that what they are experiencing is clearly abuse.

“I very much hope that this will be of significant comfort to all those who currently feel completely helpless in these situations and that this will make it harder for those who perpetuate the abuse to continue to get away with their cruel behaviour.”

It is estimated that more than one million children in the UK have no contact with their other parent after parental separation.