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Portsmouth MP joins Labour’s vote to force government to protect victims  

Stephen Morgan MP and the Labour Party today forced a vote in the House of Commons on a series of measures to address the crisis in the justice system created by a decade of Conservative cuts and court closures.

It comes as the backlog of serious criminal cases in the Crown Courts sits at an unprecedented high of more than 57,000 cases – and while prosecutions and convictions for rape are at record lows.

In its Opposition Day Debate, Labour forced a vote calling on the government to create more Nightingale Courts to reduce the backlog; to enshrine victims’ rights in law; to introduce the measures in Labour’s Green paper on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls; as well as to force the Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland, to update the House in person on the progress the Government has made in reducing the court backlog by 22 July.

 The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said,

 “Inaction is complicity.

“A decade of government cuts and court closures has helped create a rocketing Crown Court backlog and an unprecedented low in convictions for serious crimes like rape. The Conservative Party’s failure to address these damning failures is letting victims down.

“The British public now needs the government to enact Labour’s proposals to enshrine victims’ rights, to protect women and girls from violence, and to fix the backlog of criminal cases.”