Ellie Reeves – 2021 Comments on the Government’s Rape Review

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.