Keir Starmer and Cammy Badenoch clash over demands for grooming inquiry

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer he risks fueling accusations of a “cover-up” by refusing to hold a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

He also accused the Prime Minister of not wanting to ask questions “of Labor politicians who might be involved”.

Sir Keir argued that there had already been multiple investigations into the abuse by gangs of men of predominantly Pakistani origin, and a new inquiry would only delay the action the victims wanted.

And he said he would “call out” anyone who prevents victims of sexual abuse from coming forward.

The Conservatives have introduced an amendment to the Children’s Welfare and Schools Bill calling for a national inquiry.

In the unlikely event that the amendment bill is approved, which measures include Changes to academies will be scrapped, along with strict rules aimed at protecting children and around home-schooling.

Sir Keir said it was “shocking” that Conservative MPs would try to block a bill aimed at helping vulnerable children by voting for a Tory amendment and accused Badenoch of “weak leadership”.

Laying out his argument for a fresh investigation during Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch said, “Nobody has connected the dots, nobody has the whole picture”.

He said the independent investigation into child sexual exploitation, which lasted seven years and ends in 2022, did not specifically focus on grooming gangs.

“We don’t need to repeat work that’s already been done. Let’s look at new areas.”

He said a new investigation could explore “whether there was any racial and cultural motivation for some of these crimes”.

He urged the Prime Minister to “be a leader, not a lawyer.” – Reference to his job before joining politics.

Sir Keir said that “reasonable people can agree or disagree” about whether there should be a new investigation and acknowledged that there were mixed views among victims and survivors.

However, he accused Badenoch of only recently taking an interest in the topic and said she had failed to take action when she was in government.

He said, “I don’t remember him even once raising this issue in the House, even once demanding a national inquiry.”

The current controversy over the topic began when GB News reported that the government had rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual abuse.

Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, has made several inflammatory interventions on the subject, including accusing Sir Keir of being “complicit in the rape of Britain”.

Following Prime Minister’s Questions, she posted a message on social media urging MPs to support the investigation and saying that “the hundreds of thousands of little girls in Britain who were systematically, horrifically gang-raped and It’s still happening, they deserve some justice in this world.”

Security Minister Jess Phillips, who rejected the request, has argued that in her experience inquiries conducted at the local level were more effective in implementing change.

However, Speaking to Sky News She said, “There’s nothing wrong” and added, “If victims came to me on this victims panel and said, ‘Actually, we think there should be a national inquiry into this’, then I would listen to them. “

Following Prime Minister’s Questions, a Downing Street spokesperson said that “significant” engagement with victims’ groups had shown that “they don’t want to see a national inquiry, they want action to deliver justice”.

“But as the Prime Minister said on Monday, we will always remain open-minded. We will always listen to local authorities who wish to take the investigation forward, or indeed need to follow up on further allegations.”

MPs are currently debating the children’s welfare and schools bill and will vote on Conservative amendments in the evening.

The Liberal Democrats have said they will abstain from the amendment. The party’s education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said it would “gut out vital child protection measures” and accused the Conservatives of “using the victims of this scandal as a political football”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would support the amendment but said the Conservatives’ interest in the topic was “disloyal”.

He said that if the government did not call an inquiry, Reform would raise funds to appoint “independent arbitrators” to investigate the matter.

The bill would require all councils to keep a register of children who do not attend school.

It would also prevent parents from gaining the automatic right to take their children out of school for home education if the young person is subject to a child protection investigation or is suspected of being at risk of significant harm.

The Conservatives have been critical of parts of the bill that say all teachers should share the same basic pay and conditions framework, whether they work in a local authority-run school or academy.

Academies – which are independent of local authorities – currently have the freedom to set their own pay and conditions for staff, and some academies exceed the national pay scale for teachers.

Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott called the move “academic vandalism” and argued that academies would lose freedoms that could help them recruit teachers and improve pupil outcomes in challenging areas.