Victims of sexual offences face ‘postcode lottery’ with police, says home secretary

The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said victims of sexual offences face “a postcode lottery” in terms of how the police will deal with their report.

“It is a postcode lottery at the moment if you are a victim in terms of the standard of service you are going to get when your allegation is being investigated by the police and whether that is going to lead to charges ultimately and hopefully a successful prosecution”, Mahmood told Trevor Phillips on Sky News.

The home secretary was responding to claims from the Institute for Government that currently up to 50 per cent of police officers currently on sexual violence and rape squads are trainees. She said the government plans to get a specialist squad in ever force.

Key events

The flu outbreak is “very serious” and resident doctors should accept the deal on offer to avert strike action as the NHS is under “huge strain”, Shabana Mahmood said.

Asked how serious the outbreak was, the home secretary told Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “It is very serious, we’re already seeing the impact it’s having on hospitals across the country.

“We always plan every single year for a flu outbreak and that’s what happened this year. But of course, I think the numbers are a bit more serious this year and that’s why the Health Secretary, the Prime Minister and everyone across Government wants to make sure that the planned strikes by resident doctors do not go ahead.

“The NHS is under huge strain at the moment, and the last thing anybody needs to see are strikes in the NHS.”

Victims of sexual offences face ‘postcode lottery’ with police, says home secretary

The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said victims of sexual offences face “a postcode lottery” in terms of how the police will deal with their report.

Good morning, we will be following all the latest developments in UK politics this Sunday. The home secretary Shabana Mahmood and the new boss of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson will be speaking to the BBC this morning. We are also expecting Mahmood and her opposite number, Conservative shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, to speak to Sky News. Some updates so far this weekend:

Kemi Badenoch says the Conservatives will abandon plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 if they win the next election. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the Tory leader described electric vehicle quotas as “economic self-harm”.
Sir Keir Starmer condemned the two-child benefit cap as a “failed social experiment”, accusing the previous government of having “punished working families and directly pushed hundreds of thousands of children into poverty”.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has called on the Conservatives to maintain the cross-party consensus on gender identity services built before the last election in a letter to Kemi Badenoch. Streeting wrote to opposition leader on Friday urging her to “take the heat and the ideology” out of debate amid controversy over a puberty blocker trial for children.
Starmer is poised to choose a new ambassador to Washington from a shortlist of three as relations with the US are tested over Ukraine and Donald Trump’s attacks on European leaders. The prime minister held interviews with three finalists for the role this week, the Guardian has learned, with Downing Street preparing to make an appointment before the end of the year.
Leading organisations have criticised the development of the government’s flagship violence against women and girls strategy, calling the process chaotic, haphazard and “worse than under the Tories”. Ministers are gearing up for a policy announcement blitz before the publication of the long-awaited plan next week.