The role of a victims’ champion in England and Wales has been “deceptively and deliberately” undermined, leaving people affected by crime voiceless in the corridors of power, the outgoing victims’ commissioner has said.
In her first major interview since stepping down from the role in September, Dame Vera Baird accused the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, of seeking a “puppet on a string” while he undermined the rights of victims with his proposed bill of rights.
Baird said the victims’ bill going through parliament was vital legislation that could have helped improve outcomes for victims of crime. But she said Raab had “played fast and loose” with the bill and that it had been weakened by the government’s failure to maintain a representative of victims’ voices at the heart of government.
“Victims are voiceless in an official sense because the office of the victims’ commissioner has been deceptively and deliberately undermined,” she said. “I have nothing but admiration for every victims’ representative I’ve met over the last three years, but they are perceived naturally as pressure groups, and that role of being able to be a respected go-between is missing.”
Raab’s controversial British bill of rights – which seeks to make it explicit that UK courts can disregard rulings from the European convention on human rights – would “absolutely shatter any positive impact from the victims’ bill”, and harm women, particularly women of colour, she said.
“It’s going to affect victims of violence against women and girls and their ability to drive the police to do better,” she said. “And heaven knows if this is not a time – in the aftermath of Sarah Everard and all that has gone on since – for weakening victims’ rights.”
This month, the Guardian revealed that Raab had blocked Baird’s reappointment. MoJ sources said interviews for a new commissioner were not anticipated before February, with the final candidate due to be given “ministerial signoff” in the spring.
In her resignation letter, Baird said Raab had “encouraged her to apply” for her role rather than being reappointed, as her predecessor had been. She did so, but said she was then “brusquely informed” in early July that there would be no appointment from the process, told she could reapply and asked to stay in post until December.
“It is obvious that he was only asking me to stay on and apply again, because he wanted the post filled and they had no intention of giving it to me. He wanted a puppet on a string to fill the gap whilst he knowingly damaged victims’ rights,” she said.
“I stayed as long as I thought I could reasonably achieve something, which was very little because of his disregard for what I said. Finally, I realised that I would do more damage to the victims’ cause by pointlessly filling the role for him, because my presence would be making a false statement – that there was somebody having an influence on their behalf when that was not the case.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the government was working as quickly as possible to fill the vacancy, and the victims’ bill would be scrutinised in parliament. They said the government had increased funding for support services, was recruiting 1,000 independent sexual violence advisers and had launched a 24/7 rape and sexual abuse helpline.
“Our landmark victims’ bill will enshrine their entitlements in law and strengthen the role of the victims’ commissioner to ensure their voices are better heard, served and supported,” they said.
Baird – a former Labour minister under Gordon Brown – insisted she had been “meticulously careful” at keeping her politics out of the role and had worked well with Theresa May and the former justice secretary Robert Buckland, whom she met regularly. But when Raab came into the role he had rushed the consultation for the victims’ bill in six weeks, ignored the sector’s recommendations and diminished the powers of the commissioner, she said.
“Then – piloted by the same person – comes the bill of rights, which would absolutely shatter any positive impact from the victims’ bill. So then you’ve just got to say this is all a big pretence,” she said.
“[Raab] is driving it because he wants the reputation of having taken through a victims’ bill, but he doesn’t have any understanding of what victims need nor a genuine interest in it, because he’s contradicting the bill with something that he’s driving even harder.”
The bill is going through the House of Commons, despite vacancies at two of the watchdogs, which the government is legally obliged to fill. The victims’ watchdog has been unfilled since Baird quit in September, while the government has been accused of deliberately failing to appoint a new anti-slavery commissioner while pushing through the planned modern slavery bill.
“To have such a key piece of legislation [as the victims’ bill] and voluntarily get rid of the commissioner with no substitute in sight seems to be an act of serious irresponsibility,” said Baird. “It also looks convenient not to have the modern slavery commissioner nor the victims’ commissioner in place to scrutinise what is going on.”
With key ministers not “remotely interested in violence against women and girls” and a government interested only in “keeping public spending as low as possible”, Baird said she feared “a hard future for victims”.
“Victims need to be acknowledged in the criminal justice system, not to bend it in their direction, but to give them basic procedural justice, dignity and support,” she said. “Because if they continue to be treated poorly, they don’t recover from a crime we have failed to protect them from in the first place and participation in the criminal justice system collapses.”
Baird is in discussions about “a range of interesting roles” and has no plans to hang up her gloves, she said. “I had to take a stand on principle and not stay on in a diminished role,” she said about the experience of the last few months. “Equality and human rights are under serious threat, with victims in the middle of both, so for me it was vital to put myself into a better place to fight for them.”
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