Harriet Harman digs in her heels to demand tougher rape law

Story here. Excerpt:

'Harriet Harman has vetoed a review of the rape laws at the eleventh hour, complaining that the proposals fail to address the concerns of women.

Labour’s deputy leader used her position as Gordon Brown’s stand-in to demand a more radical overhaul of the law, such as targets for prosecutors and police to secure more convictions. She has the backing of Vera Baird, the Solicitor-General, but Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary and Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, do not want to widen the terms of reference and the review has been postponed.
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The review was to be announced today to coincide with the publication of an audit of the Government’s plans to tackle violence against women. Two reviews are to report next month. One looks at links between the sexualisation of girls and violence; the other at whether police need more powers to control offenders who move from one abusive relationship to another.Ministers are also planning to make it a compulsory part of the national curriculum that children are taught about healthy non-violent relationships.'