The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 5 October 2021.
The Government is failing women and girls on every front.
Under this Prime Minister, rape victims are being abandoned by the justice system.
Rape prosecutions are at a record low, victims are being left deserted, and it is clear this is a government that has absolutely no desire to fix the mess it has created and no plan to keep women and girls safe.
The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 17 June 2021.
After waiting over two years for this to be published by the Government, the review and its recommendations do not go far enough.
Rape prosecutions are at a record low, only one in 60 rapes are leading to a charge and this review was meant to understand the failings of the criminal justice system, and set out the Government’s plan to reverse the worrying deterioration of rape charges, prosecutions and conviction levels. The Government have failed to do that, and it has failed victims of rape on every front by pushing the justice system to the brink of collapse through a decade of cuts to police, courts and the CPS.
This review was a real opportunity to improve the criminal justice system for victims of rape, and it has missed that opportunity. The Government should urgently introduce Labour’s root and branch reforms to support rape victims, instead of piecemeal pilots and tinkering that will not do enough to fix the Government’s failure to support rape victims.
The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 25 May 2021.
We have been waiting over two years now for the Government’s rape review, and again the date of publication has been kicked into the long grass.
No more pilots no more consultations, we need action, we need a plan.
Labour has one – what we’d do has been set out in our Survivors Support Plan and in our Green Paper for ending violence against women and girls. And I urge the minister today to commit to a date for publishing the rape review.
Labour has also called for the Government to make a commitment to supporting Labour’s Green Paper on ending violence against women and girls, which included measures for rolling out indicators of progress – alongside annual reports – to ensure the Government makes tackling violence against women and girls a priority across every department.
The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 24 May 2021.
This government is letting down victims of rape on every front. Many survivors feel the justice system is working against them, not for them and that is completely the wrong way round.
The Government has no plan to deal with the failings that have happened under its watch, and we have been waiting for its rape review for over two-years.
Labour have published our Survivors’ Support Plan and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Green Paper to ensure our criminal justice system works for everyone.
The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 17 May 2021.
It is welcome to see the Government are finally implementing what Labour have long been calling for.
Under the Tories rape prosecutions are at their lowest level on record.
Many survivors feel the system is working against them, not for them. That is why Labour called for the fast tracking of rape cases through our courts, CPS and police in our Survivors’ Support Plan and in our Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Green Paper that Labour published today.
We now need to look at the detail of what the Justice Secretary is doing to ensure that all survivors can benefit from giving their evidence as soon as possible
The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Shadow Solicitor General, on 22 October 2020.
Communication with survivors of rape and domestic abuse is essential to maintain confidence in the criminal justice system. But this report shows a stark deterioration and a lack of Government action over the last two years.
The fact that so few case letters are of the right quality, and so many are lacking in empathy, is a stark reminder that the Conservatives are letting down victims.
The CPS must urgently review whether it is delivering on its commitments to ensure victims have faith that the criminal justice system will be there for them.