Sarah Champion: Women still not believed when they report abuse

Speaking on Radio 4's PM programme, Ms Champion said she was astonished that anyone could doubt the scale of the problem.

“Anyone who is surprised that structural misogyny is going on in this country and globally… I am shocked,” she said.

“I can genuinely say from my experience there won’t be a woman or girl listening to this that hasn’t had some experience of it.

“Whether that is discrimination in the workplace, up to sexual violence. The problem is that when women and girls try to report it, they are either belittled, ignored or shamed.”

She said the frustration stemmed from the fact it was “lived experience for about 50 per cent of the population”.

“The block is that men are not recognising the inherent power imbalance that is going on. The more powerful you get, the more likely you are to get away with abuse.”

Ms Champion said abuse often happened in plain sight but was overlooked.

“The problem was that it happened in plain sight, and people either chose not to see it or are conditioned not to see it. That is what we have to unpick.”

Referring to Rotherham’s own experience of tackling child sexual exploitation, she said trafficking under British law could be straightforward to prove.

“The frustration is on something like trafficking, it is actually a very simple crime under British law – literally moving a person from one place to another.

“In Rotherham we were able to get convictions, because girls were forced from one side of the street to another, as simplistic as that sounds.”

She also warned against launching further public inquiries without follow-through.

“Please no more public inquiries! What happens is that millions are spent, years are lost and victims and survivors have hope of change and then at the end the recommendations are either not adopted or the money isn’t put behind it."

“If police had more resources they could go after criminals. But in this country women and young girls are not believed,” she said.