𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Child rape will result in an mandatory life sentence if Reform UK wins power at the next election, the party’s head of policy has announced. Adult predators who rape children will “spend the rest of their life in prison without eligibility in parole” under the plans.

Reform wants to make it impossible for perpetrators to be jailed for as little as four and a half years. It is expected 500 new offenders will be locked up each year. The party aims to free up prison places through deportations and the building of new “Nightingale prisons”. Reform intends to build 12,400 new prison places on Ministry of Defence land.

It claims criminals are getting away with “ludicrously light sentences for heinous” crimes and is alarmed at the sentences handed to some grooming gang offenders.

Head of policy Zia Yusuf said: “For too long, Conservative and Labour governments have failed to protect our children. A Reform government will introduce mandatory minimum life sentences for those who rape children. It is shameful that this is not already the law.

“It is a stain on our national conscience that grooming gangs were allowed to operate for years with impunity, and in many cases still do. Under Conservative governments, the average sentence for the rape of a child under 13 fell to as little as nine years.”

Condeming short sentences, he said: “Under Labour, violent offenders are now being released early from prison. This is a profound betrayal of victims and of the public’s trust.”

Mr Yusuf pledged a “Nigel Farage government will deliver real justice for victims of child sexual abuse, and ensure that paedophiles are kept behind bars for life.”

The Government and the Conservatives have been invited to comment.