London Daily

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

Spanish government backpedals over sexual consent law

Spanish government backpedals over sexual consent law

Coalition partners at odds over law that has resulted in more than 200 convicted sex offenders having their sentences reduced.
Spain’s government is scrambling to close a loophole in a law it introduced that has inadvertently led to the reduction of jail sentences for sex offenders and created new tensions between the leftist coalition partners.

The Guarantee of Sexual Freedom law — also known as the “Only yes means yes law” — means that it is no longer necessary to show that violence or intimidation were used in a sexual assault. Introduced in October, it aims to favor victims of such attacks and ensure consent in sexual relations.

However, the legislation has led to more than 200 convicted sex offenders having their jail sentences reduced, and many of them being released, because a broader definition of sexual assault introduced in the law has meant that minimum sentences have been lowered.

After months of pressure from the opposition, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) has said the government plans to review the law in a bid to close the loophole. Government spokesperson Isabel Rodríguez, of the PSOE, said the law needs “technical adjustments.”

But PSOE’s junior coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (UP), which controls the Equality Ministry that has been the driving force behind the legislation, has been resisting any such change. It insists the law is technically sound and that the reduction of sentences is the fault of socially conservative magistrates.

“When a new law comes into effect which brings about a major change … it takes some time to work and, of course, there are judges who continue to apply a sexist and patriarchal approach and they don’t apply the law correctly,” said Ione Belarra, UP’s minister of social rights. She claimed the PSOE’s “legs are shaking” on the issue.

Meanwhile, the spate of sentence reductions continues to draw fierce criticism from the right-wing opposition.

The leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said Sánchez “will go down in history as someone who set the feminist struggle back in Spain.”

There has also been criticism from senior figures in the PSOE, such as Emiliano García-Page, president of the Castilla-La Mancha region, who asked: “How many sentence [reductions] do there have to be before someone in the [Equality] Ministry that promoted the law starts to think that they might have made a mistake?”

Despite its public reluctance to review the law, UP is discussing with the PSOE legal formulas to end the trend of sentence reductions — for example, by raising jail terms for sex offenders again. However, UP is concerned that changes to the law proposed by its partner could undermine the notion of consent enshrined in the legislation. Sánchez has suggested that his party will seek parliamentary support from elsewhere — possibly even from the opposition PP — if an agreement is not reached.

This is the latest in a series of issues over which the PSOE and UP have clashed since forming the first coalition government of Spain’s modern era, in 2020. The supply of weapons for Ukraine, transgender legislation, and the monarchy have all generated tensions between them in the past, but this crisis is particularly damaging.

“This is part of an ongoing rivalry — at times explicit, at other times less so — between PSOE and UP for control of the feminist issue,” said Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University.

“It’s clear that this is seriously bad for the government,” he added. “The reduction of sentences for sex offenders due to this law is having an impact on the electoral prospects of the left in general.”

Although the coalition is expected to survive this latest storm, its political impact could soon become apparent, with regional and municipal elections in May and a general election by the end of the year.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
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
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×