Reform UK plans mandatory life imprisonment for child rape | Politics | News

The rape of children will result in a mandatory life sentence if Reform UK comes to power at the next election, the party’s head of policy has announced. Under the plan, adult predators who rape children “will spend the rest of their lives in prison without the right to parole.”

The reform wants to make it impossible for perpetrators to be sentenced to as little as four and a half years in prison. 500 new criminals are expected to be incarcerated each year. The party aims to free up prison places through deportation and the construction of new “Nightingale prisons”. Reform plans to build 12,400 new prison places on Ministry of Defense land.

He claims criminals are getting away with “ridiculously light sentences for heinous crimes” and is alarmed by the sentences handed out to some gang criminals.

Head of policy Zia Yusuf said: “For too long Conservative and Labor governments have failed to protect our children. A reform government will introduce mandatory minimum life sentences for child rapists. It’s a shame this hasn’t already become law.”

“It is a stain on our national conscience that grooming gangs have been allowed to operate untouched for years, and in many cases still do. Under Conservative governments, the average sentence for rape of a child under 13 has fallen to as low as nine years.”

Condemning the short sentences, he said: “Under Labor, violent criminals are now being released early from prison. This is a profound betrayal of victims and the public trust.”

Mr Yusuf pledged that “Nigel Farage’s government will deliver true justice for victims of child sexual abuse and ensure pedophiles are kept behind bars for life”.

The Government and Conservatives were invited to comment.