Ministers demand: ‘Why have we still had no FGM prosecutions?’

Ministers are to step up the battle against female genital mutilation in Britain with a fresh drive to prosecute perpetrators of the barbaric practice.

Home Office minister Norman Baker is to meet the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, next Thursday.

He said it was “disappointing” that no one has been successfully prosecuted for FGM in the UK despite it being a crime since 1985, while about 100 cases in France had gone to court.

“I want to discuss with the DPP what we can learn from other countries,” Mr Baker told the Standard.

Yesterday, crossbencher Lord Berkeley of Knighton suggested that the failure to prosecute anyone for FGM may be because the authorities are “afraid of offending at the temple of cultural diversity”.

Prosecutors are currently examining five FGM cases sent to them by the Metropolitan Police.