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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Sophie Huskisson

Angela Rayner fumes rapists 'allowed to roam streets' on Dominic Raab's watch

Angela Rayner fumed that rapists are "allowed to roam the streets" under deputy prime minister Dominic Raab's watch.

In a fiery PMQs exchange, Labour's deputy leader challenged the Justice Secretary on the dire 1.6% charge rate for rape as the two stood in for the PM and Keir Starmer.

In an embarrassing development, it later emerged Mr Raab used an incorrect and out-of-date figure at PMQs - as he claimed the rape conviction rate was higher than it was.

The Ministry of Justice has admitted it plans to correct the official parliamentary record.

Ms Rayner also took him to task on the bullying investigation he is facing. Taunting Mr Raab, she questioned whether, under the Tories' new antisocial behaviour plan, "does he think more bullies will be brought to justice?"

In an impassioned address, Ms Rayner told the Commons: "A woman goes through the worst experience of her life. She summons up the courage to relive that horrendous experience, to tell the police in detail about her assault, but she only has a 1.6% chance of action being taken.

"Over 98% of rapists will never see the inside of a courtroom, let alone a prison and the rest of those brave women, Madam Deputy Speaker, they keep looking over their shoulders and hope the perpetrator doesn't choose tonight to take their revenge for reporting the incident to the police.

"In the last 13 years of the Tory government, more than half a million cases of rape have been recorded by the police but the charge rate for those attacks have collapsed.

"He has served under five Tory Prime Ministers and had three years as Justice Minister, and on his watch, rapists are left to roam the streets. So will he apologise to those victims who will never get justice because of his failures?"

Attempting to defend the Government, Mr Raab responded: "The issue of rape and serious sexual violence against women is one of our top priorities.

"She asked what we're doing about it - since 2019 Police referrals of cases are doubled, CPS charges have doubled. She asked, on my watch, what has happened?

"The volume of convictions in rape cases increased by two thirds and if she really wants to protect vulnerable women, whether it's from rapists or other serious crimes, they will back our parole reforms which will mean ministers will be able to prevent them being released into the public and cause more threats."

But Ms Rayner hit back: "He says that the conviction has gone up, what he really means is that 300 women will be raped today while he boasts about an increase of 0.5%."

The Ministry of Justice has since been forced to correct the record after it emerged one of the figures used by Mr Raab at PMQs was wrong.

He claimed the conviction rate for rape cases “has gone up, it is now at 69 per cent”.

But the MoJ admitted to FactCheck that the stat is “out of date” and says it plans to correct the official parliamentary record.

The conviction rate for rape prosecutions dropped from 69.1% between April and June 2022 to 61.9% in July to September 2022 - the most recent data, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed said: "He has been caught out covering up the Conservatives’ abysmal record of failing to prosecute rapists. Dominic Raab must immediately come back to the House and apologise.”

An MoJ spokesman explained to the Mirror that Mr Raab had been referencing the rolling annual conviction rates, which had risen from 68.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021/22 to 69% in the first quarter of 2022/23.

However, they admitted: "‘This rolling annual figure fell to 67.8% in the latest data release for the second quarter of 2022/23. We will correct the record as soon as possible to reflect the discrepancy."

Mr Raab is currently being investigated over eight bullying complaints involving two dozen civil servants.

The Mirror revealed complainants have said they lost weight, suffered breakdowns or even felt suicidal as they thought there was no escape.

Ms Rayner raised the probe, mocking Mr Raab: "The reality is while people in Britain feel more and more unsafe, he seems to spend all of his time trying to save his own job and none of his time on his actual job.

"The way things are going and reports are to be believed this might be your last PMQs.

"So let's look at the highlights: A criminal justice on its knees, the largest court backlog on record, rape victims waiting for justice and through it all, he managed to wrack up 24 formal complaints from his own civil servants. So can he say today, will he walk before he's pushed?"

She added: "This week the government announced their so called antisocial behaviour policy It's only taken 13 years. And look, I'll give him some credit, the deputy prime minister knows first-hand the misery caused by thugs and their intimidating behaviour."

Listing the allegations against Mr Raab, she said: "Working with menace, exploding in fits of rage, creating a culture of fear and maybe even I don't know, throwing things. So can I ask you, under his new antisocial behaviour, does he think more bullies will be brought to justice?"

It comes after Downing Street announced plans to force vandals to wear jumpsuits and wash police cars as ‘rapid’ punishment this week.

The Prime Minister said his plan would "crack down" on anti-social behaviour "once and for all".

A key plank of the measures will be making justice "immediate" and ensuring that communities can visibly see efforts to clean up vandalism and graffiti.

Other punishments could include picking up litter, washing police cars or doing unpaid work in shops, according to Downing Street. The sale and possession of laughing gas will also be banned under the plan.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused the Conservatives of empty rhetoric on antisocial behaviour while there are so few police on the beat to take action.

The Government is set to fall short of its flagship 2019 manifesto pledge to recruit 20,000 police officers by this Thursday, which is March 31.

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