The recommendation by a House of Commons committee to finally make forced marriages a criminal offence will hopefully clear the way for long overdue legislation.

Existing legislation brought in three years ago allows victims and third parties to seek an injunction to prevent forced marriages, with punishment for those who breach it.

But the Home Affairs Select Committee says the law should go further and forced marriages should be criminalised – something the Telegraph & Argus has been calling for for many years.

It is important to make a clear distinction between a forced marriage and an arranged marriage. Clearly forcing someone to marry someone else against their will is completely unacceptable.

It is something that should be against the law, and hopefully this latest report will take a step towards that happening. The current legislation does not seem to be strong enough to deal with the problem.

Although 300 forced marriage orders were issued under the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act, only one person has been jailed for breaching one of those orders.

It is time criminal rather than civil legislation is introduced to properly tackle this issue.

The committee also highlights the fact that schools are not always fulfilling their responsibilities when dealing with pupils who might be vulnerable to forced marriages.

It is vital that better support and training is given so teachers can spot danger signs and are able to deal with them appropriately.

David Cameron was extremely vocal about what he described as the evil of forced marriages when he wrote an article for the T&A as leader of the opposition. Now he is Prime Minister, it is time for him to act and accept the recommendations made to outlaw this practice once and for all.