Unfortunately, John Redwood, a senior Conservative party member has rather muddied the waters, apparently "backed up" by Cameron, with comments made on his blog about the different ways stranger rape and date rape should be treated and prosecuted.
From his blog:
"They [the Labour government] decided to set date rape alongside stranger rape. Again, none of us want men to rape women, but there is a difference between a man using unreasonable force to assault a woman on the street, and a disagreement between two lovers over whether there was consent on one particular occasion when the two were spending an evening or night together.
"Labour's doctrine of equivalence has led to jury scepticism about many rape claims, in situations where it is the man's word against the woman's and where they had agreed to spend the evening or night together. Young men do not want to have to take a consent form and a lawyer on a date, just as young women have every right to go on a date and to say 'No', having it respected."
Disgusted beyond belief. Only just over 5% of rape trials end in prosecution in the UK, and the vast majority of those are already stranger rape cases. Crisis centres across the country are closing because of lack of public funding. Much as I loathe Vernon Coaker, in this instance I agree with him. I await a statement from Cameron with baited breath...
