Reform UK to introduce mandatory life sentences for child rape

A Reform UK government will introduce mandatory life sentences for child rape in order to protect women and girls, the party's Head of Policy Zia Yusuf has today [Saturday 3 January] announced.

Currently, there are no minimum sentences for child sexual abuse or exploitation in England and Wales, which has led to ludicrously light sentences for heinous sex offenders. For example, some grooming gang offenders have received sentences of as little as four years for serious sexual abuse.

In response, a Reform government will introduce a new mandatory minimum prison sentence of life for child rape. These will be whole life sentences, so adult offenders will spend the rest of their life in prison without eligibility in parole. This policy applies to an estimated 500 new offenders per year, which has been factored into the party's plans to build and free up additional prison places through deportations and the building of ‘Nightingale Prisons'.

Reform UK Head of Policy Zia Yusuf said:

 “For too long, Conservative and Labour governments have failed to protect our children.

“A Reform government will introduce mandatory minimum life sentences for those who rape children. It is shameful that this is not already the law.

“It is a stain on our national conscience that grooming gangs were allowed to operate for years with impunity, and in many cases still do. Under Conservative governments, the average sentence for the rape of a child under 13 fell to as little as nine years. Some grooming gang child rapists have received sentences as low as four years. Under Labour, violent offenders are now being released early from prison.

“This is a profound betrayal of victims and of the public's trust.

“Only a Nigel Farage government will deliver real justice for victims of child sexual abuse, and ensure that paedophiles are kept behind bars for life.”

Reform UK has also laid out its intention for these mandatory minimums to apply to historic child sexual abuse to ensure that heinous historic crimes are also sentenced proportionally.

The current process for overturning lenient sentences (the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme) requires the Attorney General Richard Hermer to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, which can take months and Lord Hermer has already refused to review some grooming gang offences.

The party argues that these measures are necessary after decades of neglect by the Conservatives and Labour. In power, the Conservatives pushed every aspect of the criminal justice system to breaking point, leaving office with nearly 7,000 child sexual abuse cases awaiting trial or sentencing, and imported millions of people from countries that have appalling attitudes to women and girls.

The Tories also did very little to stop the grooming gangs, stifling debate on offenders' ethnicity and refusing a local authority request for a national inquiry.

Notes to editors

• A Reform UK government would ensure that the offences of Rape of a child under 13 (s.5 Sexual Offences Act 2003) and Rape (where the victim is aged 13-15) (s.1 Sexual Offences Act 2003) both carry the minimum tariff of a whole life order, meaning that any offender over the age of 18 will receive a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for parole.

• There are currently no mandatory minimum prison sentences for child sexual abuse: Part 10 of the Sentencing Act 2020 applies to second offences and is still subject to judicial discretion.

• Around 500,000 children are sexually abused every year, in part due to ineffective deterrence.

• Recent lenient sentences include:

• • Amreaz Asghar, Perwaz Asghar, Mohammed Din and Zehroon Razak were sentenced in July 2024 for sex offences against a teenage girl in Keighley in the late 1990s, with Amreaz Asghar and Razak convicted of rape but only jailed for four and a half years and six and a half years, respectively.

  • Ibrar Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed and Fayaz Ahmed were were sentenced in January 2025 in the same (Keighley) case to six years and six months for two counts of rape, nine years for one count of rape, and seven years and six months for two counts of rape, respectively. These ‘pathetically short' sentences were reviewed and increased as unduly lenient.

  • Nadeem Ali and Mohammed Naheem were sentenced in October 2025 to five years and nine months and six and a half years respectively for indecently assaulting a vulnerable child (who was between 13 and 16 at the time) between 2002 and 2004 in Bradford.

• This policy applies to roughly 500 new offenders per year (or 2,500 across a five-year Parliament) based on the MoJ's Outcomes by Offence data tool for December 2024 (and using relevant Home Office offence codes for over 18s).

• Reform UK has already set out how it will build 12,400 new prison places on MoD land and free up additional prison places by deporting foreign prisoners to their country of origin.