The role of a victims’ champion in England and Wales has been “deceptively and deliberately” undermined, leaving people affected by crime without a voice in the corridors of power, the outgoing victims’ commissioner has said.
In her first major interview since stepping down in September, Dame Vera Baird accused Justice Secretary Dominic Raab of seeking a “puppet on a string” as he undermined victims’ rights with his proposed declaration of rights
Baird said the Victims Bill going through parliament was vital legislation that could have helped improve outcomes for victims of crime. But he said Raab had “played fast and loose” with the bill and had been weakened by the government’s failure to keep a representative of victims’ voices at the heart of government.
“Victims have no voice in an official sense because the Office of the Victims’ Commissioner has been deceptively and deliberately undermined,” he said. “I have nothing but admiration for all the victims’ representatives I’ve met over the last three years, but they are naturally perceived as lobbyists, and that role of being able to be a respected intermediary is missing.”
Raab’s controversial British Bill of Rights, which aims to make it explicit that UK courts can ignore rulings from the European Convention on Human Rights, would “absolutely destroy any positive impact of victims’ law” and harm women, particularly women of color she said
“It will affect victims of violence against women and girls and their ability to push the police to do better,” she said. “And heaven knows if this is not a time, after Sarah Everard and everything that has happened since then, to weaken the rights of victims.”
This month, The Guardian revealed that Raab had blocked Baird’s re-election. Justice Ministry sources said interviews for a new commissioner were not expected before February, and that the final candidate would have to be given “ministerial sign-off” in the spring.
In her resignation letter, Baird said Raab had “encouraged her to apply” for her position rather than be re-elected, as her predecessor had been. She did, but said she was then “abruptly informed” in early July that there would be no appointment to the process, told she could reapply and asked to stay on until December .
“Obviously he was just asking me to stay and reapply, because he wanted to fill the position and they had no intention of giving it to me. He wanted a puppet on a string to fill the void, while deliberately damaging the rights of the victims,” he said.
“I stayed while I thought I could reasonably achieve something, which was very little because of his disregard for what I said. Finally, I realized that I would be doing more harm to the victims’ cause by uselessly filling the role for him , because my presence would be making a false statement: that there was someone influencing his name when that was not the case.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said the government was working as quickly as possible to fill the vacancy and that the victims’ bill would be considered 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-hour rape and sexual abuse helpline.
“Our landmark Victims Bill will enshrine their rights 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 Labor minister under Gordon Brown, insisted she had been “scrupulously careful” to keep her policy off paper and had worked well with Theresa May and former justice secretary Robert Buckland, with whom met regularly But when Raab took up the role, he had rushed the consultation on the victims’ bill by six weeks, ignored industry recommendations and reduced the commissioner’s powers, he said.
“Then, piloted by the same person, comes the declaration of rights, which would absolutely destroy any positive impact of the bill for the victims. Then you just have to say that this is all a big pretext,” he said.
“[Raab] He’s driving it because he wants to be seen as having accepted a victims’ bill, but he doesn’t understand what victims need or have a genuine interest in it, because he contradicts the bill with something that he’s pushing even further.”
The bill passes the House of Commons, despite the vacancies in two of the watchdogs, which the government is legally obliged to fill. The victims’ watchdog has been in breach since Baird stepped down in September, while the government has been accused of deliberately failing to appoint a new anti-slavery commissioner while passing the Modern Slavery Bill.
“To have such a key law [as the victims’ bill] and voluntarily getting rid of the commissioner with no replacement in sight appears to be an act of gross irresponsibility,” Baird said. “It also seems appropriate not to have the Modern Slavery Commissioner or the Victims Commissioner to scrutinize what’s going on.”
With key ministers not “remotely interested in violence against women and girls” and a government only interested in “keeping public spending as low as possible”, Mr Baird said he feared “a difficult future for victims”. .
“Victims must be recognized in the criminal justice system, not to bend it in their direction, but to give them basic procedural justice, dignity and support,” he said. “Because if they’re treated badly, they don’t recover from a crime we didn’t protect them from in the first place and participation in the criminal justice system collapses.”
Baird is in discussions about “a number of interesting roles” and has no plans to hang up the gloves, he said. “I had to take a position of principle and not stay in a diminished role,” he said of the experience of the last few months. “Equality and human rights are under serious threat, with victims in the middle of both, so it was vital for me to put myself in a better place to fight for them.”