A discussion over a staggered age of consent is to take place, the work and pensions secretary has said, as the government faces calls to change the law following the case against Russell Brand.
Speaking to the ‘s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Pat McFadden said that “appalling” stories of “abuse of power by powerful men” have emerged this week.
A woman who alleges she was raped by the jailed comedian when she was 16 is now campaigning to see the law changed so that relationships between 16-and 17-year-olds and adults would be illegal.
Questions over a staggered age of consent have “been raised and will be discussed” McFadden said, adding: “[I] can’t tell you what the conclusion of that would be, but the last week has certainly put that up in lights.”
Adults of any age are legally able to have sex with 16- and 17-year-olds, under UK law.
Mia Latter, who has waived her right to anonymity, told the Sunday Times that she wants to see the age of consent to be staggered.
Latter is one of six women who made allegations against Brand in 2023 as part of a Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches investigation.
She was known under the pseudonym “Alice”. Brand denied the allegations at the time and none of the six women were complainants in Brand’s recent criminal trial.
At Southwark Crown Court on Monday, Brand was sentenced to 10-and-a-half-years imprisonment after being convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, involving four women between 2004 and 2009. He was acquitted of two counts of rape and one allegation of attempted indecent assault.
Latter said she was 16 when she met the comedian, then 30. She told the Sunday Times: “I think people were so struck by my story because of the age difference and the clear imbalance [in power].”
“I don’t want to criminalise teenagers having sex with each other,” she told the paper.
“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 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.”
Further allegations of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry came in the same week Brand was convicted.
ITV News and the Guardian published a story alleging that comedian David Walliams had been accused of sexual misconduct by several women.
One woman said she now characterises her alleged encounter with Walliams at 15 years old as a “sexual assault”. Walliams strongly denied he had any sexual contact with the girl.
Other women alleged inappropriate behaviour when he was a judge at ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, such as inviting girls and young women to his dressing room.
Walliams said he rejected any allegations of criminal activity and that he has never engaged in the grooming of young women.
The Metropolitan Police said on Friday it has launched an investigation into Walliams over reports of “alleged serious sexual offences”, after the ITV News and the Guardian story. The Met said that the allegations it is investigating are separate from those reported by ITV and the Guardian but that it was “also proactively reviewing that reporting”.
Speaking to Sky News, the work and pensions secretary said: “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.”