The UK’s Labour MP Harriet Harman is attempting to put through the change in the wake of the Ched Evans case.The Welsh footballer was acquitted of raping a 19-year-old woman at a retrial after a judge allowed evidence to be heard from two men who had sex with her around the time of the allegation including her preferences and the language she used.

Amendment

Mrs Harman has tabled an amendment to the Prisons and Courts Bill, which returns to Parliament tomorrow (Tuesday) for committee stage, to close the loophole in the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 which allows the evidence if it's in the interests of justice.

Special circumstances

The law change in 1999 had barred such court tactics, but permitted defence lawyers to apply to introduce a complainant’s previous sexual history under certain circumstances. Mrs Harman’s proposed amendment would see the clauses about exceptions struck out of the 1999 law, the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act. She also said that the possibility of being quizzed about previous sexual history was putting victims off reporting rape and sex assaults to the police.

Support

Her amendment is being supported by Dame Vera Baird, the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner and ex-solicitor general. Research she published earlier this year revealed that a woman's sexual past was used as evidence in more than one third - 11 out of 30 -  rape trials.