Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer discusses making spiking a standalone criminal offence
In April 2023 Sir Keir Starmer appeared on This Morning and said that if he became Prime Minister, he would make spiking a standalone criminal offence to send a clear message to perpetrators and to empower victims to report it. Today, the Prime Minister has returned to our sofa to confirm that this is going ahead as part of his commitment to halve violence against women and girls. He shares how he’ll put his plans into action, what he’s achieved since becoming Prime Minister five months ago and how he’s going to tackle some of the economic and social challenges facing the country.
During his return to the show, he explained: “It is really important. It was on this program as you rightly say, eighteen months ago, that I said, ‘If we were privileged to win the election, we would make spiking a criminal offense’ and so, to be able to announce today that we're going to do so - back on this program - I think just completes on that. Having said we would do it, it is important to come back and say, ‘Now we're doing it’. This obviously affects many, many people.”
The Prime Minister continued: “The number of reported incidents is way below the number of cases because many people don't want to come forward, they feel embarrassed… Very many people don't want to come forward to say what has happened to them. That's part of why we want to make it a specific offense and part of why we want to raise awareness about it and put the support mechanisms in place. It's been welcomed by victims and victims groups, it's what they were calling for. By making it a specific offense, it means we're clearly identifying what it is, we're making it easier to have a public campaign around it, easier for our police and for courts.