Cuts not to blame for failures in rape prosecutions - Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has denied budget cuts are to blame for a dramatic fall in rape prosecutions in England and Wales.

It comes after Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told the BBC cuts were "self-evidently" a factor, as he announced plans to fix the system.

Mr Johnson echoed Mr Buckland's apology to rape victims and survivors, at Prime Minister's Questions.

But he blamed "evidential difficulties" for the fact that prosecutions have more than halved since 2016.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who is the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service - said: "On the prime minister's watch, rape prosecution and convictions are at a record low, court backlogs are at a record high, victims are waiting longer for justice and criminals are getting away with it.

"This wasn't inevitable, it's the cost of a decade of Conservative cuts and even now the government isn't showing the urgency and ambition that's needed."

He said that 98.6% of reported rapes did not end in charges or a sentence, which he called an "appalling" record.

Mr Johnson said there were problems with recovering evidence from mobile phones and "too often cases go from the police to the Crown Prosecution Services not in a fit state".

"There is not a good enough join-up across the criminal justice system," he added.

He ended the exchanges with an attack on Labour and praise for the government's coronavirus vaccination programme, saying: "We are getting on with the job, they jabber, we jab."

This prompted an angry response from Labour's shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, Jess Phillips.

"For the prime minister to describe questions about rape convictions as 'jabber' is disgraceful," said Ms Phillips.

She called on the PM to apologise for his words, claiming he "simply doesn't care about tackling sexual violence".

During the exchanges with Sir Keir, the prime minister apologised to rape survivors and victims "for the trauma they have been through" and the "frustrations" they feel at the "inadequacies" of the criminal justice system.

He said the government was putting money into clearing court backlogs and a plan to improve rape conviction rates.

And he accused Labour of not supporting tougher sentences for serious sexual and violent offenders.

Earlier, Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird, told the Home Affairs Committee the government's long-awaited rape review was "underwhelming" but also a "watershed moment".

She said there was a "very large amount of kicking the can down the road" but the apology made by ministers for falling prosecution rates was "powerful" and campaigners were seeing that as a "signal of intent".

She said as long as the "strength" of that apology survived then she was hopeful "we can really bring a change...and drive the government further".

But the treatment of victims was "appalling" she added, with police forces focusing on whether the victim was credible and not the defendant.