Ministers will discuss whether to introduce a staggered age of consent, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has said, after a woman who alleges Russell Brand orally raped her when she was 16 called for the law to change.
McFadden told BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday that questions over a staggered age of consent had "been raised and will be discussed". On Sky News's Sunday Morning With David Olusoga, he said the government "probably will consider it".
He did not announce a formal review and would not say what the outcome might be. "[I] can't tell you what the conclusion of that would be, but the last week has certainly put that up in lights," he told the BBC.
The remarks come ten days after Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault, and five days after separate allegations were published about the comedian David Walliams, which he denies. A staggered age of consent would make sexual relationships between adults and 16- and 17-year-olds illegal. The age of consent in England and Wales is 16, and the law is the responsibility of the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, not McFadden's department.
The call for change came from Mia Latter, 37, who gave up her right to anonymity in a Sunday Times interview published on Saturday. She was previously known as "Alice" in the 2023 investigation into Brand by the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches.
Latter alleges that Brand orally raped her in 2006, near the end of a three-month relationship, when she was 16 and he was 30. Brand denied all the allegations made in the 2023 investigation.
Her allegation was not part of Brand's trial and has not been tested in court. She was not a complainant in the case, and his convictions do not relate to her.
"I think people were so struck by my story because of the age difference and the clear imbalance [in power]," Latter told the Sunday Times. She said that "if you're in your thirties, forties and fifties and you're trying to have a relationship with someone under the age of 18, it [should be] a criminal offence."
McFadden told Sky News the country had been "appalled by the abuse of power by powerful men" and that "a big age gap can be part of that", according to the PA news agency.
"I do think that between Russell Brand, David Walliams, what's been put out there, people are looking at these issues in a new light," he said.
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told the BBC programme the change was worth debating. "I think any parent would look twice," she said, adding: "let's have the debate".
A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Brand guilty on 5 November of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, and acquitted him of three other counts. Mr Justice Bennathan sentenced him on 9 November to 10 years and six months in prison for offences against four women between 2004 and 2009.
ITV News and the Guardian published a joint investigation on 10 November alleging that Walliams preyed on teenage girls and young women. Walliams denies all the allegations, including any criminal behaviour. "I am not a sexual predator," he wrote in a letter to the two outlets.
Latter has said she will not continue with the criminal process so that she can concentrate on campaigning. The Metropolitan Police says its investigation into her allegation remains ongoing, the Irish Times reported.
She first argued for the law to be looked at in 2023, speaking as "Alice" on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women's Justice, told the Independent that year: "I don't think you could make sex between 16 and 17-year-olds illegal but we should look at whether there should be a presumption of non-consent when someone is a lot older and someone is still a teenager."
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