London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Female Labour MPs call on PM to scrap new rape victim guidance

Female Labour MPs call on PM to scrap new rape victim guidance

More than 100 MPs write to Boris Johnson saying guidance will lead survivors to avoid seeking therapy

More than 100 female Labour MPs have written to Boris Johnson calling on him to scrap new guidance on pre-trial therapy for rape victims, which they say will make it less likely they will get the vital therapy they need.

Led by the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, MPs including Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner and Jess Phillips argue that the new rules “will cause many survivors to avoid seeking therapy, and make it more likely that cases will collapse when the prolonged stress of waiting for trials becomes too much”.

The move would allow a defendant’s legal team to access and use rape victims’ therapy notes in court proceedings if they thought it was “relevant”, rather than only in cases where it would undermine a case, they argue. The proposal was criticised by the victim’s commissioner for England and Wales Vera Baird, who said it “made things worse” for rape victims.

Thornberry said: “It’s hard enough at the moment for rape victims as it is, without them having to choose between getting help with their mental health and justice. That seems to us to be a grave problem.”

The majority of rape cases are closed when victims drop out of the criminal justice system. In the year to December 2021, 61% of police investigations were closed because the victim did not support further action. A lack of support for victims, including confidence in pre-trial therapy, has been cited as one of the key reasons.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said its new guidance on pre-trial therapy, brought out at the same time as the attorney general released guidance on disclosure designed to protect victims’ privacy, clarified that requests for data must be specific, adding that notes would be shared with the defence only if capable of undermining the prosecution case.

But critics and campaigners argue they can be sought if deemed “relevant” and should be excluded from trials entirely.

A year after the government launched its landmark rape review into the collapse of rape cases, the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, announced a pilot that would include three specialist rape courts in Newcastle, Leeds and Snaresbrook in London opening in October.

Rape victims face long delays in cases getting to trial, with the typical wait between an offence of rape and the completion of the resulting criminal case exceeding 1,000 days in 2021 for the first time.

Figures suggest that in the past year police have been sending more cases to the CPS, and there has been a small increase in the number of cases that the prosecution service takes forward.

The government’s rape review progress update states that rape convictions have increased by 27% compared with 2019, before the pandemic hit, while the rape conviction rate increased to 70.7% in October to December last year, up from 67.8% in the previous quarter. Critics argue that an increased conviction rate is a poor measure of success, as it can suggest that cases perceived as “difficult” are still not being taken forward.

Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said “not a great deal” had changed for rape survivors, while specific data was still not being collected on black and minority ethnic women.

“Despite any positive spin the government put on creeping prosecution rates, the reality is that in 2016-17 the volume of completed rape prosecutions was 5,190 and in 2020-21 this stood at just 1,557, so we are nowhere near on track to meet government targets in this area,” she said.

Just 1.3% of 67,125 rape offences recorded by police in 2021 led to a prosecution, Home Office figures show. It means rape continues to have the lowest charge rate of all crimes. “We are in the most terrible place when such a tiny percentage of rapes reported to the police are being prosecuted,” said Thornberry.

Raab said the situation was improving and that 1,000 sexual violence advisers were being recruited and a helpline was being developed. He said an extra yearly £6.6m in the spending review would result in the expansion of the Operation Soteria pilot, a new police model for catching rapists, more support for victims, and better data collection. “We are restless to go further,” he said.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said material could only be disclosed “if it might reasonably be considered capable of undermining the case for the prosecution or of assisting the case for the defence”. New requirements would “ensure that third-party material such as therapy notes and medical records are only sought by investigators in rare circumstances, where strictly necessary to ensure a fair trial”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
×