it was a mandatory policy and it was a disgraceful policy. >> dave miliband. >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker. doesn't he realize what people arehinking of him on crime. before the election he made a whole series of promises and now he's breaking them one by one. he's out of touch -- he was out of touch on anonymity for rape victims and now he's out of touch on sentencing for rape victims. he's cutting the number of police, cutting 12,000 police officers. why doesn't he go back to the drawing board on crime and get rid of his justice secretary? >> well, in terms of broken promises, i remember the leader of the opposition saying at those party conference about ken clark, i'm not going to say he's soft on crime. well, that pledge didn't last very long. one of these days, the party opposite is going to realize opposition is more than just jumping on a bandwagon, picking up an issue. it's about putting forward a serious alternative and making some serious points. >> order! sir allen hazelhurst. >> by contrast, mr. speaker, in harmony with the priority being gin by the government to streng

. >> dave miliband. >> mr. speaker, can i start by joining the prime minister in paying respect to nigel mead. he showed bravery and courage in our troops and our thoughts are with his family and friends. mr. speaker, the role of the justice secretary is to speak for the nation on matters of justice and crime. this morning, the -- this morning the justice secretary was on the radio suggesting that there were serious raids and other serious category of raids. would the prime minister now like to take the opportunity to distance himself from the district secretary's comments? >> well, first of all let me say rapes should be met with proper punishment. nip who's ever met a rape victim and talked to them about what that experience means to them and how it stays with them for the rest of their lives could only want to have the most serious punishment possible. the real disgrace in our country is that only 6% of rapes that are reported to a police station end in a conviction. that is what we have to sort out. now, i

. >> dave miliband. >> mr. speaker, it's about the way he runs his government because yesterday -- because yesterday the justice secretary was saying this proposal is likely to survive the consultation. the prisons minister was defending the policy. people are rightly angry about this policy. they think it's the wrong policy all i'm asking is something very simple. why doesn't the prime minister give us his view? >> i've given you my view and i'll give you my -- i want to see more people prosecuted and convicted for rape. and we're going to take steps to make sure that happens but i'll give you my view on something else. yes, which is this. i think there is merit in having a plea bargaining system which we have already, which should be discretionary to try and make sure we convict more. what we had under the last government was a mandatory release of all prisoners irrespective of what -- yes, he sat in the cabinet that let 80,000 criminals out of prison. that wasn't a discretionary policy. it was a mandatory po