Rape convictions rates ‘disgracefully low’, policing minister admits
Rape conviction rates are “disgracefully low”, Policing Minister Kit Malthouse has admitted, as he acknowledged that “there is a problem” with violence against women and girls.
Speaking ahead of Home Secretary Priti Patel’s conference speech on Tuesday morning, Kit Malthouse told Sky News the government will “redouble our efforts” to make public spaces safer for women.
The policing minister also admitted that “too many feel unsafe in the public realm” and said the government has “apologised profoundly” for the drop in rape convictions.
Kit Malthouse said rape conviction rates are ‘disgracefully low’
Asked if he accepts that there is a problem in the UK with violence against women, Mr Malthouse said: “Oh yes, I think we all accept that.”
He added that this is why the government published a violence against women strategy in the summer.
Mr Malthouse told Sky News that since he has been policing minister the government has “done a lot of work in this area”, adding: “I have been leading the work in the government on the regrettably, disgracefully low conviction rates that we have around rape and sexual assault.”
The policing minister said while there has been “a lot of work that is ongoing” on reducing violence against women, “we still have a problem in this country”.
He added that this has been encapsulated in the response to the murder of Sarah Everard.
Priti Patel is expected to tell the Conservative Party conference audience that she will ‘redouble’ her efforts to make women feel safer in public places
Both Ms Patel and newly appointed Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will be making conference speeches on Tuesday.
Mr Raab – who is also the deputy prime minister following last month’s cabinet reshuffle – is expected to say that the government ” will transform the way the justice system treats violence against women”.
It is believed the justice secretary will announce that the Victims’ Code, which focuses on victims’ rights and sets out the minimum standard that organisations must provide to victims of crime, will be enshrined in law.
He is also expected to add that his “number one priority” is “making our communities safer, so that women can walk home at night, without having to look over their shoulder”.
Meanwhile, Ms Patel will pledge to “redouble” her efforts to make women feel safer and to “ensure perpetrators feel the full force of the law”.
The PM said tackling the issue of violence against women and girls is his ‘number one issue’
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday morning, Mr Malthouse admitted the government “have to respond” to the response to cases including that of Sarah Everard.
“The fact that there are too many women and girls out there who just feel unsafe in the public realm does demand that we constantly increase and reinforce our efforts to make sure that they and everybody else feel safe,” the policing minister added.
The government “are very focused on this issue”, he said, pledging to try and drive rape and sexual assault conviction rates up.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also stressed that reducing the rates of violence against women and girls “is my number one issue” when speaking on BBC Breakfast.
Mr Malthouse also told Sky News that Insulate Britain protestors have “crossed the line” of peaceful protest after video footage was released showing a paramedic removing an individual from the middle of the road.
Describing the footage as “deeply distressing”, the policing minister said something “does” need to be done about the situation.
Kit Malthouse said rape conviction rates are ‘disgracefully low’
“While we obviously all value the right to protest, there is a difference between causing disruption and causing damage,” he said.
“We believe that these protesters and some of the others that we have seen in the last couple of years have crossed the line between exercising their right but also their responsibility towards the rest of us and something needs to be done.”
Mr Malthouse added that the government will be “announcing a raft of new measures” to curb protests such as this later on Tuesday.
Mr Raab will be making his conference speech at 9.50 with Ms Patel’s following at 11.50.
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Politics
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is ‘totally’ up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs
The chancellor has said she was having a “tough day” yesterday in her first public comments since appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions – but insisted she is “totally” up for the job.
Rachel Reeves told broadcasters: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.
“My job as chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government, and that’s what I tried to do.
“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.”
Politics latest: PM sets out 10-year NHS plan
She declined to give a reason behind the tears, saying “it was a personal issue” and “it wouldn’t be right” to divulge it.
“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job,” she added.
Ms Reeves also said she is “totally” up for the job of chancellor, saying: “This is the job that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m proud of what I’ve delivered as chancellor.”
Reeves was seen wiping away tears during PMQs. Pic: PA
Asked if she was surprised that Sir Keir Starmer did not back her more strongly during PMQs, she reiterated that she and the prime minister are a “team”, saying: “We fought the election together, we changed the Labour Party together so that we could be in the position to return to power, and over the past year, we’ve worked in lockstep together.”
PM: ‘I was last to appreciate’ that Reeves was crying
The chancellor’s comments come after the prime minister told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that he “didn’t appreciate” that she was crying behind him at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday because the weekly sessions are “pretty wild”, which is why he did not offer her any support while in the chamber.
He added: “It wasn’t just yesterday – no prime minister ever has had side conversations during PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there’s a bit more time, but in PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang. That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”
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Starmer explains to Beth Rigby his reaction to Reeves crying in PMQs
During PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill, leaving a “black hole” in the public finances.
The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening – but a total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill, which was the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s lone parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.
Ms Reeves has borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.
Ms Badenoch also said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she will, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
Downing Street scrambled to make clear to journalists that Ms Reeves was “going nowhere”, and the prime minister has since stated publicly that she will remain as chancellor “for many years to come”.
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