Keir Starmer is set to block a national inquiry into child grooming gangs in Parliament today, ordering his MPs to oppose an amendment tabled by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch that would trigger a new official inquiry. The Mail has more.
With Labour holding a massive majority in the House, it means the bid is almost certain to fail.
Sir Keir – who has been fending off an extraordinary social media attack on the issue from U.S. billionaire Elon Musk – accused the Conservatives of “shocking” tactics by tagging the measure on to the wider Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
“I would implore any right-thinking Tory MP to vote for the Bill because this would kill the Bill, this would kill the legislation,” he told the Mirror.
The issue is likely to come up when the leaders clash at the first PMQs session since the Christmas break at noon, before the expected vote this evening.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the decision showed “total moral cowardice”.
“The victims of these heinous child rape gangs deserve honesty, and they deserve the truth,” he said.
Mr. Philp said previous inquiries had failed to get to the bottom of the issue.
“Labour’s decision risks perpetuating the cover-up of the rape gangs,” he said.
“There will be many Labour MPs in constituencies where these awful crimes took place and where victims still seek justice. They now need to think long and hard about which side of history they want to be on.”
The scandal involved the rape and sexual abuse of thousands of white girls by gangs of predominantly Pakistani-origin men.
Campaigners against child sex abuse also urged the Prime Minister to reconsider.
Victims campaigner Dame Jasvinder Sanghera said she “fully supported” a public inquiry – and warned that rape and abuse of young girls by gangs of men was still continuing.
“Let’s be clear, this is still happening,” she told Times Radio. “This isn’t something that used to happen. This is still happening today. I’m sure the perpetrators of this kind of abuse will look for different ways of manipulating the system so we have to look at this as a whole and have a broader conversation.”
Dame Jasvinder said the Government’s approach to multiculturalism still appeared to be to “minimise the risk of offending communities as opposed to actually dealing with the very problem”.
But on a round of broadcast interviews this morning, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson branded the Tory approach “sickening”.
Worth reading in full.
The Telegraph explains the process:
The Bill is due to face its second reading debate this afternoon which is the first big hurdle legislation must clear and is when MPs debate and vote on the broad principles of a Bill. Amendments seeking to make changes to a Bill are not allowed at second reading.
So the Tories and Reform have instead tabled what are called “reasoned amendments” which set out reasons for objecting to a Bill rather than proposed changes.
If a “reasoned amendment” is passed by the Commons it has the effect of killing off the Bill it is attached to.
So with today’s action it is possible for Labour to try to argue that it is all about the Tories and Reform trying to kill the Bill while the Tories and Reform can try to keep the focus purely on the inquiry issue.
The Tories also oppose the Bill because it takes the axe to the freedom of academies:
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott told Sky News: “Academies are being abolished in all but name as part of this Bill and we completely oppose that and everybody should.”
The Tory frontbencher argued that the Bill would strip academies of many of the freedoms they currently have on things like teacher pay and admissions.
Elon Musk kept the pressure on this morning, tweeting: “Now why would Keir Starmtrooper order his own party to block such an inquiry? Because he is hiding terrible things. That is why.”
Independent Oldham Councillor Abdul Wahid has said Keir Starmer needs to “stop deflecting” from the issue of grooming gangs by “calling everybody far-Right”, adding: “Why would anybody with an ounce of humanity deny the public a fair and independent inquiry?”
Stop Press: MPs voted by 364 votes to 111 against Kemi Badenoch’s call for a new inquiry.
Watch Kemi tell Parliament that Starmer “doesn’t want questions asked of Labour politicians who may be complicit“. (Though Farage pointed out that “as Women and Equalities Minister from 2022 to 2024 [Badenoch] didn’t meet a single victim of these rapes and never raised the issue once”.)
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