Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to today’s crime statistics, said:

“Under the Tories fewer serious criminals are being brought to justice, and more rapists and abusers are getting away with awful crimes. David Cameron and Theresa May are being shockingly complacent about serious crime and dangerous criminals.

“These figures show a shocking failure to help rape victims and bring dangerous criminals to justice. There has been a 29 per cent increase in reported rapes in the last year yet a 28 per cent drop in the number of rape cases referred to the CPS and a 14 per cent drop in prosecutions under this Government.

“Child sex offences are also increasing in these figures, but again there have been fewer prosecutions and convictions and more abusers and criminals are walking free. And the massive increase in online child abuse isn’t even properly reflected in these figures as more than 20,000 cases reported to the National Crime Agency are not even being listed as crimes. 

“For the past four years the Home Secretary and Prime Minister have been saying frontline police officers can be cut because they are recording fewer crimes, yet now we see the police recording 11 per cent more violent crimes, as well as increases in shoplifting and knife offences. And there are far too few police officers working on serious cases involving child protection or sexual offences.

“Crime is changing and it is clear – with the huge divergence in recorded crime and the survey –the figures are not picking it up. The scale of the growth in online crime, online child abuse, and crimes against business are not being picked up in these figures. And the police don’t have the capacity and structures to deal with these growing new crimes.”