HC Deb 11 February 1993 vol 218 cc1106-7
15. Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last met his counterparts in the European Community to discuss penalties for violent crime.

Mr. Charles Wardle

My right hon. and learned Friend has regular meetings with his counterparts in the European Community to discuss co-operation across a range of criminal justice matters, but penalties are a matter for the criminal law of each member state and are not normally discussed with our European partners.

Mrs. Gorman

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware that in Belgium people who rape young women can receive sentences of 10 to 15 years' mandatory prison service together with hard labour, and that for other kinds of rape they will be given solitary confinement and a confinement period of a minimum of eight years? Is he also aware that the women in this country are getting sick and tired of judges handing out soft sentences to rapists, and that there are those who think, as I do, that perhaps we should do something a bit more drastic to those people, including cutting off their goolies?

Mr. Wardle

rose—[Interruption.]

Madam Speaker

Order. The Minister should be given the opportunity to answer.

Mr. Wardle

And to do so intact, I trust. What happens in Belgium is a matter for the Belgians. My hon. Friend will be aware that stiffer sentences have been made available to the courts. [Interruption.] I hope that my hon. Friend will remind those who complain about sentences in this country that the Opposition have opposed every piece of law and order legislation since 1979.

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