Criminal Courts: Independent Review

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) for securing this debate. Sir Brian Leveson’s report—I have it as being 388 pages—begins with historical quotes, all of which roughly translate to the same thing: justice delayed is justice denied, as we have already heard in this debate. I want to speak specifically to a case in my constituency because I found it quite traumatic, and it speaks to the human impact of this issue.

A mother in my constituency wrote to me about her daughter’s case. Her daughter was a child sexual abuse survivor aged 11. She waited five years while her case was put back and back, five times, until it coincided with her GCSE exams. It was a cloud over her life for such a long time, not allowing her to move on, not letting her get on with her life. She was just waiting, and it impacted her during one of the most pivotal moments in a young person’s life. The perpetrator was found guilty, was given 10 months in prison and will serve nine months, but only after five years of that case hanging over that young woman’s head. It is indefensible, and I am so angry that our justice system could fail a young person—a young woman, a child—so completely. Her case is not isolated; it is one of many that can be replicated nationally.

The review makes it clear that the system is under intolerable strain. The number of publicly funded criminal barristers—those who handle serious cases like the one I described—fell by 11% between 2017 and 2021. Four out of five such barristers work over 50 hours a week, and one in three are actively seeking to leave the Bar. The problem could get worse. It is clear that serious mistakes were made by the previous Government. The victims of those mistakes have been members of the public and those who are most innocent in our communities. It is nowhere near good enough.

The report states that one cause of the crisis is the long-term funding constraints over many years. In positive news, I welcome our Government’s recent announcement that there will be more sitting days, with funding for an extra 1,000 legal days this year. That means we will get closer to clearing some of the backlog and getting victims justice. I am also pleased that the Government have stated that there is much more to do, recognising the generational shift that is needed and cannot wait. I look forward to the Government’s response to the review because I know that our Justice Secretary is passionately focused on getting that response right. In this debate, I wanted to stand up and say that my constituent’s daughter deserved better. Although we cannot change what has happened for the last number of years, we can fix the system that is failing people right now.

Oral Answers to Questions

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Tuesday 16th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

We are determined to look at this lacuna for victims of domestic violence, and if necessary, we will come forward with further amendments or, indeed, legislation.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

T7. May I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s remarks about the remarkable achievements of the Hillsborough campaigners?Last week I met Soroptimist International members in Stafford, who raised concerns about mothers in Drake Hall Prison in my constituency. Every year, 17,000 children have their mothers go to prison, yet only 9% are taken care of by their fathers. Where do those 15,000 children go, and what steps is the Minister taking to ensure that children of women in prison are properly identified and taken care of?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jake Richards)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her really important question. I worked with the amazing charity Children Heard and Seen prior to getting this role. I am determined to ensure that we do more to protect the children of prisoners. The Prisons Minister in the other place is already working with the Women’s Justice Board to look at better ways we can treat women prisoners to ensure that they are rehabilitated.

Domestic Abuse Offences

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Monday 17th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Josh Babarinde]

I thank my Justice Committee colleague for his intervention. Of course, domestic violence is a form of domestic abuse, but we must remember that domestic abuse covers so many different kinds of activity, including emotional abuse, financial abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse. It is critical that we recognise them all, because all too often there is disproportionate recognition of, say, physical violence, but some of the more hidden forms of abuse are just as damaging to victims and survivors.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing a debate on this incredibly important issue.

I am the MP for Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, and Women’s Aid Staffordshire is based in my constituency. I have raised these statistics before, but we have seen a 361% increase in referrals to its sexual violence service in recent years, and an 851% increase in referrals to its specialist counselling services. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we are facing a national crisis?

[Josh Babarinde]

I thank the hon. Lady for sharing those statistics. More than a national crisis, this is a national emergency, and Women’s Aid has rightly declared it so. That is why it is now more important than ever that our legal framework properly recognises domestic abuse in law.

I have described how our current legislation is leaving survivors without the respect and the protection they deserve. For example, many abusers qualify for early release when the Government’s intention is that they should not. I have raised this a number of times in this House and beyond, including on the Justice Committee. Ross Gribbin, a director general at the Ministry of Justice, confirmed that the only way of closing this loophole is through primary legislation that this House must debate and vote on.

That leads us to think about the solutions to patching up this legal loophole. The solution must be to create a specific offence of domestic abuse in law. I have proposed a very specific way of doing it, in consultation with a number of stakeholders, and that is to create a series of domestic abuse aggravated offences in law. In the same way that we have racially and religiously aggravated ABH, GBH, assault and so on, we would have a domestic abuse equivalent.