Victims of sexual offences face ‘postcode lottery’ with police, says home secretary – UK politics live | Politics
Sex crime victims face ‘postcode lottery’ with police, Home Secretary says
Victims of sexual offenses face a “postcode lottery” over how police handle their reports, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
Mahmood told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips: “It’s a postcode lottery at the moment if you’re aggrieved in terms of the standard of service you’ll receive when your claim is investigated by the police and whether that will ultimately result in charges and hopefully a successful prosecution.”
The home secretary has responded to claims by the Institute for Government that up to 50 per cent of police officers currently attached to sexual violence and rape teams are trainees. He said the government plans to establish an expert team on a permanent basis.
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Shabana Mahmood said any attack on the NHS “undoubtedly” puts lives at risk.
Asked what he thought of how doctors were handling the dispute, the Home Secretary told Sky News on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “There is no doubt that strikes in the NHS are putting lives at risk.
“We want to make sure that the NHS is supported throughout a difficult winter and through this particular flu outbreak that we’re seeing at the moment, and I think it’s really important that everyone realizes what’s at stake here.
“I think there is a bit of a difference between the attitude taken by the junior doctors’ leadership and the views of these individual doctors.”
He said: “These are very hard-working public servants, but they got the better deal than anyone else in the public sector.”
Society ‘far from acceptable’ on misogynistic freedom of expression
The home secretary said society was “very far on the other side of what is acceptable” in terms of freedom of expression, which is misogynistic.
On Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked Shabana Mahmood whether the government had crossed the line in cracking down on young men like Andrew Tate who engage in misogynistic influences.
“There will always be a line, but right now we are far from where that line is acceptable,” Mahmood said.
“It is right that we think about how we give schools and parents the tools they need to make sure they are raising boys who will become healthy young men in their own right, with a good understanding of what a healthy relationship is.
“It is important for the government to take action because we are not prepared to sit back and accept that VAWG is a fact of life.”
Shabana Mahmood said the flu outbreak was “very serious” and junior doctors should accept the proposed deal to avoid strike action as the NHS was under “huge pressure”.
Asked how serious the outbreak was, the home secretary told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips: “The situation is very serious, we are already seeing the impact on hospitals across the country.
“Every year we plan for a flu epidemic and that’s what happened this year. But of course this year I think the numbers are a little more serious and so the Minister for Health, the Prime Minister and everyone in the government wants to make sure that the strikes planned by junior doctors do not go ahead.”
“The NHS is under huge pressure at the moment and the last thing anyone needs to see is strikes in the NHS.”
Sex crime victims face ‘postcode lottery’ with police, Home Secretary says
Victims of sexual offenses face a “postcode lottery” over how police handle their reports, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
Mahmood told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips: “It’s a postcode lottery at the moment if you’re aggrieved in terms of the standard of service you’ll receive when your claim is investigated by the police and whether that will ultimately result in charges and hopefully a successful prosecution.”
The home secretary has responded to claims by the Institute for Government that up to 50 per cent of police officers currently attached to sexual violence and rape teams are trainees. He said the government plans to establish an expert team on a permanent basis.
Good morning, we’ll be following all the latest developments in British politics this Sunday. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s new boss Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson will speak to the BBC this morning. We also expect Mahmood and his opponent, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, to speak to Sky News. Some updates so far this weekend:
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Kemi Badenoch said the Conservatives would abandon plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 if they win the next election. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the Conservative Party leader described electric vehicle quotas as “economic self-harm”.
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Sir Keir Starmer condemned the two-child benefit cap as a “failed social experiment” and accused the previous government of “punishing working families and pushing hundreds of thousands of children straight into poverty”.
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In a letter to Kemi Badenoch, health minister Wes Streeting called on the Conservatives to maintain the cross-party consensus on gender identity services established before the last election. Streeting wrote to the opposition leader on Friday, urging him to keep “heat and ideology” out of the debate amid controversy over a puberty blocker case for children.
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Starmer is preparing to choose a new ambassador to Washington from a shortlist of three as relations with the US are tested over Ukraine and Donald Trump’s attacks on European leaders. The Prime Minister interviewed three finalists for the role this week and Downing Street is set to make an appointment before the end of the year, the Guardian understands.
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Leading organizations have criticized the development of the government’s flagship violence against women and girls strategy, describing the process as chaotic, haphazard and “worse than under the Conservatives”. Ministers are gearing up for a policy announcement ahead of the long-awaited plan being published next week.
