Simon McGee
Political Editor
FORCED marriage will not be made a specific criminal offence despite expectations the Government would bring in a law to end the practice.
Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland denied the plans had been dropped for good, but made it clear she believed the creation of a new offence "could isolate victims, prevent reconciliation and drive forced marriage underground".
Officials added that "the possibility of developing new legislation" would not even be considered until non-legislative measures – including ensuring existing laws were "fully implemented", "increasing the level of training to professionals" and "engaging more with affected communities" – had taken effect.
Baroness Scotland said: "We do not intend to have new legislation unless and until a case for new legislation has been made out. I do not intend for us to have ill-conceived legislation which may damage the interests of the victims that we are seeking to protect. We are not in the business of legislation for legislation's sake."
But Keighley MP Ann Cryer, whose long-running campaign against forced marriage was instrumental in getting the Home Office to take the practice seriously, was furious at the decision and accused Ministers of worrying about political correctness while ignoring the needs of vulnerable young women.
"Is that it? Are we just going to leave things as they are?" she said. "None of this acknowledges the reality and the consequences of forced marriages that ruin lives.
"Girls keep on being tricked into going over to Pakistan, where they find themselves physically or emotionally blackmailed into marrying strangers – and we're not stopping that with our current laws.
"(Baroness) Patricia Scotland's comments are total codswallop: she's never been an MP and has never had to deal with anything like the reality of girls coming into my office week after week.They've decided not to do anything because they think it would be politically incorrect and because they have a vested interest in keeping the old men with beards happy."
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis weighed into the row, claiming the Government's handling of the issue showed Ministers "may have been more interested in grabbing headlines than delivering results". He said: "The Government seems to be ignoring the views of the victims of this abhorrent practice. We remain to be convinced the Government will use their existing powers to stamp out this degrading and vile practice."
Central to Home Office justification for not legislating were the results of a consultation on a specific new offence. Officials claimed the results showed "no clear majority" in favour or against – but closer inspection showed among those with experience of forced marriage there was a clear majority, contrary to the Home Office's presentation of the data. Just over 46 per cent were in favour or partially in favour of a new law, with just 24 per cent against. The remainder did not respond or were unsure.
Challenged by the Yorkshire Post, Baroness Scotland refused to clarify the claim made by her department.
There was very little support for the idea among police, prosecutors and probation officers.