Jess Phillips Nottingham visit: Government doing “less than nothing” to tackle issues such as spiking

Labour’s Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding has criticised the government over a lack of action to protect students vulnerable to sexual assaults following a number of high profile spiking attacks in Nottingham.

Speaking to Nottingham World, Shadow Minister Jess Phillips said that the government is doing “less than nothing” to tackle issues such as spiking, and violence against women and girls (VAWG) in general.

“They are failing across the board,” she said. “They have a Home Office obsessed with only one issue while crime and punishment in our country is all but gone. Five per cent of cases get charged. You’re talking 1.6 million cases which were dropped last year, including rapes, including stabbings, the most violent crime.

“Their eye isn’t on the ball at all with these issues. The reason they don’t want to make it an offence is because this is the minor inconvenience of people whingeing about women.

“They don’t care.”

Phillips was also critical of the government’s decision to prevent legislation making spiking a named standalone offence, which she said was due to a “Parliamentary game”.

In January Home Office Minister Sarah Dines confirmed that no further action would be taken to specify spiking as a criminal offence, saying that a review had not found “any gap in the law”.

Under existing legislation, specifically the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is a criminal offence to administer a “stupefying or overpowering” substance to a person without their consent with the intention of committing a sexual act against them.

The government has also reclassified a number of “date rape” drugs, including GHB, from Class C to Class B, meaning tougher sentences for those caught in possession.

Phillips was in Nottingham to meet with representatives of various local bodies with responsibility for safeguarding in bars, including Nottinghamshire Police, under the Night Time Economy (NTE) Safety Partnership.

As part of her visit Phillips took part in a group discussion at live music venue and nightclub Rock City, the site of a number of high-profile spiking incidents around the country in the autumn and winter of 2021.

She praised the actions of Nottinghamshire Police, the city council, the universities and NTE leaders to protect students, saying that there are “so many lessons that can be learnt from Nottingham”.

“There are things I have seen today that I have never seen anywhere else. It’s fascinating. For a local council to have a strategic lead for sexual violence. It shows that the council cares about it.

“What’s happening here is not standard across the country. Here today I felt that young people’s voices, survivors’ voices, and people who actually use the night time economy’s voices were actually being heard.”

Among those meeting with Phillips at the venue was Michele Somers, area manager for DHP Family, which owns and operates Rock City. Somers is also the Nottingham chair of the National Pubwatch initiative, which promotes better safeguarding and protections in bars.

Describing the period when Rock City and other Nottingham venues made national headlines following a spate of spiking incidents, Somers said “It was like a whirlwind”.

She added: “We were coming out of Covid where we’ve got two generations of first years and second years who hadn’t been out in the night time economy yet. We had a shortage of staff both hospitality and supervisors and managers.

“It was a difficult time for operators within the night time economy, balancing the need for staff and also the resources that were available. Then when the reports started flooding in, we had a really fast response from the local authorities on how to handle that.

“The [police] response to that was brilliant. Everyone on the beat had testing kits to try to get a test done as quickly as possible, and we had our medic there to try to keep people safe.

“The night time economy is the safest place for you to go out. We have everything in place to keep you safe. We have welfare crew, our security staff are trained to look after you, we have management teams to look after you.”

Among those attending today’s event were Karl Thomas, neighbourhood policing inspector for Nottingham South, Amy Goulden, Head of Community Safety at Nottingham City Council, and Councillor Sajid Mohammed, the council’s portfolio holder for Neighbourhoods, Safety and Inclusion.

In January 2022 Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry ordered a full scale review of safeguarding provisions within the city’s pubs, bars and clubs, and how leaders within the NTE partnership could better work with Notts Police.

A Home Office spokesperson said: Spiking is a cowardly act which is already illegal and anyone who commits this crime faces up to ten years behind bars.

“We have invested £125 million to make our streets safer, including initiatives to tackle drink spiking, campaigns to raise awareness and training for bar staff.

“Our Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy will also help drive long-term change to prioritise prevention, bring perpetrators to justice and ensure victims get the support they need.”