REFORM UK has vowed to jail child rapists for life if the party wins the next election, Zia Yusuf has said.
Offenders convicted of the “heinous” crime would never become eligible for parole, according to the plans announced by Head of Policy Yusuf.
There were 677 convictions for rape of children under the age of 16 in 2024, according to Ministry of Justice data, relating to the number of convictions rather than the number of people convicted.
But in a tough new policy, Nigel Farage‘s party said it would impose mandatory whole life sentences for adults convicted of child rape if Reform came into power.
And it would ensure that those put away for the rest of their years are not eligible for parole.
The policy has been “factored in” to Reform’s plans to free up prison capacity by deporting foreign criminals to their country of origin and building “Nightingale prisons”, the party sad.
Life sentences can be given to child rapists at a judge’s discretion under existing rules, with an offence range of six to 19 years for offences against children under 13.
Whole life orders differ from standard life sentences, whereby a minimum term is served before potential parole.
They are given in cases where the crime was deemed so serious that the offender should never be released from prison.
Reform said its intention was for “mandatory minimums to apply to historic child sexual abuse to ensure that heinous historic crimes are also sentenced proportionally”.
The existing process for overturning lenient sentences can take months and in some cases, the Attorney General’s office did not refer sentences to the Court of Appeal.
It emerged last year that one of the grooming gang members convicted of raping a vulnerable teenage girl in the 1990s was only jailed for four and a half years.
Reform UK says it wants its tough new sentences to apply to historical offences, so that it would cover grooming gangs, even though usually criminals are sentenced according to the law at the time the offence was committed.
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.
“Some grooming gang child rapists have received sentences as low as four years. Under Labour, violent offenders are now being released early from prison.”
A government spokesperson said: “While sentencing sits with the independent judiciary, judges can and do hand down long terms, including life sentences, for these sickening criminals.
“Recognising the national emergency violence against women and girls has become, this Government is delivering the biggest overhaul of child protection measures in decades.
“We are creating a clear legal duty to treat grooming as an explicit aggravating factor in sentencing for child sexual offences whenever it plays a part.
“The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs is now under way, with a chair appointed and progress being made toward securing answers for victims and survivors.”
It comes after Mr Farage vowed to put tackling lawlessness in London at the heat of Reform’s campaign for local elections in the capital this May.
Last year he vowed to halve crime within five years if he becomes Prime Minister, including by recruiting 30,000 police officers as well as by creating more prison places and deporting foreign national offenders.
Mr Farage hired a detective who caught some of Britain’s worst rapists and murderers as his Police and Crime Advisor.
Colin Sutton’s proposals to clean up the UK’s streets include issuing every frontline officer with a Taser and reopening 300 shuttered police stations.
