A regional daily’s probe into the low rape prosecution rate on its patch has been raised in Parliament.

Last week the Yorkshire Evening Post ran a series highlighting the experiences of rape survivors in the Leeds area.

The YEP’s investigation, led by reporter Susie Beever, revealed 95pc of women in West Yorkshire who reported being raped had never seen their attacker prosecuted.

Yesterday the issue was raised in the House of Commons by Rachel Reeves, Labour MP for Leeds West.

Referring to the YEP’s findings, she quizzed Tory justice minister Chris Philp on the issue, asking what the government was doing to “ensure that the criminal justice system is properly resourced and that it does not let down victims and add to the trauma that they have already experienced?”

In response, Mr Philp said Ms Reeves was “quite right to raise this issue”, which he described as “extremely serious”, and added that “too few cases” were resulting in someone being charged.

He said: “I entirely agree with her. The government is taking action in this area.”

The Minister said the government was increasing expenditure on services for rape victims, with £5m spent on support centres including one in Leeds.

Susie told HTFP: “It’s great to see the important issues raised by local press infiltrating the walls of Parliament. Off the back of a series of interviews with women who had experienced rape, one of them has since informed me she has been contacted by local police willing to look back into her case.

“Police often echo the importance of reporting rape, but what isn’t taken into account is the extremely difficult and even traumatic experience for victims that follow.

“Imagine, having to undergo invasive medical examinations, hours of interviews, even handing over your phone and having your private life brought into question, all to find it was for nothing.

What many people don’t realise is that victims are not even allowed to seek counselling in direct relation to their attack, in case this affects future witness accounts at a trial. I look forward to seeing what this government does in relation to improving the number of rapists brought to justice.”