Labour ministers will consider calls to stagger the age of consent to make it illegal for adults over a certain age to have a sexual relationship with 16 and 17-year-olds.
The Government is set to look at demands to protect teens from sexual exploitation by older partners following allegations against Russell Brand and David Walliams.
Brand, the 51-year-old disgraced comedian, was jailed on Monday for 10-and-a-half years after his conviction for rape and sexual assault.
A woman who says she was groomed by Brand when she was 16 and he was 30 has now become the first of his accusers to waive her anonymity.
Mia Latter, 37, decided to reveal her identity to open up about the alleged abuse she suffered at Brand’s hands when she was just a teenager.
It comes after a woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams, another TV entertainer, when she was 15 as ‘sexual assault’.
Russell Brand, the 51-year-old disgraced comedian, was jailed on Monday for 10-and-a-half years after his conviction for rape and sexual assault
Mia Latter (pictured) is the first of Russell Brand’s accusers to waive her anonymity, claiming the comic abused her when he was 30 and she was 16
It comes after a woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams, another TV entertainer, when she was 15 as ‘sexual assault’. He denies any wrongdoing
Louise Haigh, the Prime Minister’s de facto deputy, told the Sunday Times: ‘It is heartbreaking to hear Mia’s story.
‘We need to listen to Mia and other victims like her who have been through these experiences, because it’s really important that as lawmakers their experience is at the heart of what we consider.’
Ms Latter has called for the introduction of a staggered age of consent – which would make sexual relationships between adults and teenagers aged 16 and 17 illegal.
The current age of consent in the UK was set at 16 in 1885.
‘It clearly would be a massive step to change the age of consent, but it deserves proper consideration and scrutiny,’ Ms Haigh, the First Secretary of State, said.
‘I can absolutely understand why she is calling for it.’
Pat McFadden, the Work and Pensions Secretary, also said the Government would look at the issue.
He told Times Radio: ‘I think Mia has raised an important question today.
‘I’m sure it will be discussed and considered by people but I don’t know what the outcome of that will be because I think there’s probably a number of things to think through on this.’
The Cabinet minister added: ‘I think there’s a number of things to think about but what’s really important is young men and women feel safe when they come to a workplace for example that they don’t feel they’re at the mercy of some powerful man abusing his position.
‘So, those issues of age gaps may come into it, especially when someone’s very young but as I say I don’t have a conclusion to that question today.’
Tory shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately, who has a 16-year-old daughter, suggested it may be time to act because now you see ‘so many people – and it seems to be in plain sight – going about abusing’ and ‘taking advantage of young women’.
Reform UK MP Danny Kruger said the ‘instinct’ behind a potential law change is ‘clearly right’ but warned it must not ‘confuse us further’.
‘I’m afraid that we have a chronic reality where older men sexually preying on young girls who may be legal but are clearly very vulnerable. So I applaud the impulse,’ he told Times Radio.
‘I worry about a complicated law that sends confusing signals about what’s acceptable and what isn’t. I want a culture in which it’s just expected that older men don’t prey on teenage girls.
‘If we change the law, let’s make sure it actually works and doesn’t confuse us further because ultimately, culture will influence behaviour rather than the law.’
Anna Edmundson, director of policy and social change at the NSPCC, said: ‘The NSPCC has long campaigned for better protections for teenagers and in 2022 helped change the law to prevent more adults in positions of trust from having sexual relationships with 16-17 year olds they have power over.
‘Since then, we have seen many other disturbing examples where adults appear to be targeting young people to sexually exploit them. This is completely unacceptable.
‘That’s why we welcome comments from Government ministers indicating a willingness to reconsider the current legal framework.
‘We urgently need a review of what is and isn’t working to ensure 16 and 17-year-olds are fully protected in law from this predatory behaviour.’
Brand was convicted of attacks against four of the six women who gave evidence against him, and he is now serving a 10-and-a-half-year prison term for one count of rape and three sexual assaults.
During his trial, Brand’s defence team had claimed that the women who spoke out in a 2023 Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, ‘In Plain Sight’, were actresses and even questioned whether some existed – though Ms Latter herself appeared in it as a silhouette and was given the name ‘Alice’.
Brand denied all the allegations of the original investigation in 2023. Ms Latter spoke to the police after the documentary aired, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to include her in the trial. Officers told her they wanted her to give evidence at a potential second trial.
It was announced on Friday that a series of ‘serious’ sex offence allegations against Walliams are being probed by the Metropolitan Police following an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News.
One woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams when she was 15 as ‘sexual assault’. Walliams denies any wrongdoing.
