Burnham ‘will consider’ staggered age of consent

“What we’ll definitely do is think about whatever we can do to help people at the wrong end of these abuses of power. We’re already changing the nature of [non-disclosure agreements], which are used to silence people in the workplace on these issues; people have a right.

“Young women have a right to feel safe at work, to come in and do their job, and not be at the mercy of powerful men abusing their position and their authority.”

He later told the BBC: “It’s certainly a question that has been raised and will be discussed. I can’t tell you what the conclusion of that would be, but the last week has certainly put that up in lights.”

His comments came after Mia Latter, who says she was raped by Brand when she was 16 and he was 30, waived her anonymity to call for a staggered age of consent.

She told the Sunday Times: “I don’t want to criminalise teenagers having sex with each other. If you’re between the ages of 16 and 18, it seems reasonable that you can have relationships with each other and [teenagers] are always going to.

“But … if you’re in your 30s, 40s and 50s and you’re trying to have a relationship with someone under the age of 18, it [should be] a criminal offence.”

Waxman said there needed to be “serious conversations” about changing the law to protect teenagers from exploitation when there was a significant age gap in a sexual relationship.

She said there was an argument for examining whether the law did enough to protect young people from exploitation.

She said: “We see this play out quite a lot, certainly in different industries and that power dynamic between the age difference as well, and I think we need to have some serious conversations about it.”

Asked whether those conversations should include the age of consent, she said: “Yeah, and just to make sure that young people are protected.”

Lucy Beaumont, a comedian who helped expose allegations of sexual misconduct against David Walliams, called for a staggered age of consent that would prevent adults from having sexual relationships with significantly younger teenagers.

Walliams, 55, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl and abusing his celebrity to groom teenage girls for sex. He has denied wrongdoing, grooming young women or abusing his position. He said he was “not a sexual predator” and had not “broken the law”.

Charlotte Proudman, a barrister who specialises in law regarding violence against women and girls, said: “Staggered, or graduated, age of consent means the law takes account of the age difference between sexual partners, rather than treating 16 as the point at which a child can legally consent to sexual activity with someone of any age.”

A 16-year-old cannot buy alcohol or cigarettes legally, but someone decades older can have sex with them legally.

She said: “The law does not adequately recognise the significant power imbalance between children and much older adults, particularly where grooming, financial dependence, celebrity status or emotional manipulation are involved.”

Josh Fenton-Glynn and Rachael Maskell, who are Labour MPs, have called for a staggered age of consent to be considered.

Maskell said: “If we are serious about what we learned from the Casey review [investigating grooming gangs], we have to make sure that these things can’t happen in any other way, and this law would help go some way in protecting these vulnerable young girls.”

The Close the Consent Gap campaign proposes a staggered age of consent to make it a criminal offence for a person aged 20 or older to engage in sexual activity with a person aged 16 or 17, unless the age difference is no more than three years.

Some countries have extra safeguards built in for 16- and 17-year-olds. Canada recognises age difference as a factor in determining exploitation for this age group. For 14- and 15-year-olds, Canadian law criminalises any sexual activity if a partner is five or more years older.

This goes beyond most countries’ legal frameworks, including in the UK, where there are specific offences for abuse of trust by adults in positions of authority such as teachers, social workers, sports coaches and faith group leaders who engage in sex with teenagers in their charge.

Last week, the NSPCC child protection charity and senior Labour figures called for the Government to consider extending such “abuse of trust” offences to cover powerful predatory men in the wake of the Brand-Walliams controversy.

The NSPCC backed a review of the law. Anna Edmundson, the charity’s director of policy and social change, said: “We urgently need a review of what is and isn’t working to ensure that 16 and 17-year-olds are fully protected in law from this predatory behaviour.”

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