Where's the money for rape crisis, Boris?

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Dear Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

Please keep your promise to properly fund four rape crisis centres for London.

In your election manifesto, you guaranteed £744,000 per year for four years of secure funding for four rape crisis centres in London. We call on you to keep your promise by providing the full amount from your budget to secure the vital work of the existing centres and ensure that the promised centres for north, west and east London are all able to go ahead this year.

During Boris Johnson's campaign to be elected Mayor of London, he promised big improvements to rape crisis provision. He promised to cut the amount he spent on media relations and spend the savings on guaranteed funding to increase the number of centres serving the capital from one to four.

Over a year later, the funding commitment over 4 years is £830,000 short of what he promised and we have only heard about plans for one of the three new centres. At the same time, reported rapes increased by 14.5% last year, while convictions remain very low at 6.5%.

Together we can push Boris to keep his word. Sign the petition now and help persuade him to provide the additional funding immediately and to announce the location of the two new centres before the end of 2009.

For people who have been raped, crisis centres can act as a lifeline, providing support and advice on coming to terms with painful and frightening experiences. For people who decide to take their cases to court, the centres can also help with providing legal guidance and dealing with giving evidence. They perform a vital service for our city, and they deserve proper, sustainable funding.

There are now thousands of Londoners involved in 38 Degrees. By joining forces with the Boris Keep Your Promise campaign together we can send a powerful message it will be hard for him to ignore. We know that Conservative politicians are keen for us to believe that public services would be safe in their hands if they win the next General Election. This means a public outcry about Boris's broken campaign promise right now has a strong chance of embarrassing him into action.