Police sometimes do not deal with victims of honour-based abuse because of their fears of being accused of racism, MPs have heard.

Honour-based abuse and violence is the term that refers to practices predominantly used to control the behaviour of women and girls to protect supposed cultural and religious beliefs.

Giving evidence to the House of Commons women and equalities committee on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet – the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for tackling honour-based abuse – admitted that cultural sensitivities around the subject can hamper effective policing.

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