Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to Dame Elish Angiolini’s report, said:

“Dame Elish’s report exposes the fatal flaw in Theresa May’s approach to tackling crime. Whilst high volume crime like car theft has continued its twenty-year decline, Theresa May has presided over a growing justice gap for victims of rape and sexual assault and England’s largest police force is struggling under the pressure. In London – as is the case across the country – the number of reported rapes has gone up, but arrests and prosecutions are down.

“The truth is the police, including the Met, have been hollowed out by the Government’s cuts. Almost 17,000 officers went in the last five years and David Cameron and Theresa May want to cut a similar number in this Parliament. Specialist units with expertise in investigating sexual offences have been disbanded and this report points to the “high levels of anxiety” of police staff involved in rape cases.

“Dame Elish has set out a series of recommendations to improve the way the criminal justice system works for rape victims, but there are serious questions whether the scale of Government cuts to police officers will make these impossible to implement.”

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