I am proud to be a sponsor of a bill introduced by my colleague Tom Tugendhat, which aims to bring sentencing powers for cases of child cruelty more in line with serious assaults on adults.
Tony’s Law – named after a baby who had suffered life-changing injuries at the hands of his biological parents – would amend two acts, the ‘Children and Young Person’s Act’ (1933), and the ‘Domestic Violence, Crimes and Victims Act’ (2004).
As a former children’s minister, I have had a close involvement with child protection over many years and there is always more we can do, but I echo Tom’s words from the chamber – “These amendments are not intended to be used often. Indeed, I pray, as I’m sure we all do, that they are never used at all”.
For Tom’s full speech: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/23bd8d29-f4bf-48a1-8ef4-ec6772715b25?in=15:58:18&out=16:05:16
