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United Kingdom·Human Rights

UK survivors of sexual violence distressed by 'pugnacious' MP questioning in parliament

Tuesday, 21 April 2026, 20:08 · 1 min read

Victims of rape and sexual violence have reported anxiety, emotional breakdowns and distress following a parliamentary evidence session in Westminster in which MPs questioned witnesses about proposed changes to jury trials. The UK's victims' commissioner, Claire Waxman, has filed a formal complaint against the chair of the public bill committee examining the courts and tribunals bill, saying the session became "unnecessarily adversarial" and risked retraumatising survivors present in the room. Organisations including Rape Crisis and Women's Aid backed the complaint, though the deputy speaker defended MPs' right to "question robustly," and the shadow justice minister involved said he had "no regrets" for pressing Waxman on what he called misleading testimony.

Sources
The GuardianVictims of sexual violence distressed by MPs’ ‘pugnacious’ questioning ↗︎
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