The government is attempting to make it harder to change your name – devastating news for millions of women and victims of abuse

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Judging by recent proposals, designed to resolve the easily containable problem of sex offenders evading detection, but likely, in fact, to penalise millions – mostly innocent women – and simultaneously over-turn a centuries old right, the answer has to be a thundering, thudding, “No!” Late last year, the Safeguarding Alliance, a group that promotes best practice in safeguarding children, raised a troubling issue on the government’s petitions page. We shall “amend existing Home Office guidance, so that only enrolled deed polls are accepted as a proof of name change”. In the UK, however, you may accompany a name change with one of several documents: a deed poll; a statutory declaration; or a “declaration of truth”. First, because if the government means what it says and only deed polls become proof of name change, then that is a lot of people – mostly women – who will need to get them.