MPs tonight voted against the Tories’ attempt to hold a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
The amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill called on Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government to establish a ‘national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs’.
But thanks to the premier’s supermajority it was voted down by 364 to 111.
The vote came amid Sir Keir coming under a barrage of attacks from the world’s richest man Elon Musk who has accused him of being ‘complicit in the rape of Britain’ after it was revealed the Government declined a request for a nationally led inquiry in Oldham.
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, hit out at the Prime Minister and accused Sir Keir of using ‘his supermajority in Parliament to block a national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal’.
Neil O’Brien, shadow minister for education, gave an impassioned speech ahead of the vote calling for a ‘much needed’ national inquiry into grooming gangs.
‘There were 40 to 50 places where the grooming gangs operated and the victims voices in those places have never been heard,’ he said.
He said without a national inquiry it is clear ‘we will not get to the bottom of this and the people who looked the other way or covered it up will not be held to account’.
‘So far, madam deputy speaker, how many people in authority have been brought to justice or held to account? The answer is zero.’ he said.
But Catherine McKinnell, minister for education, hit back and said they would be rejecting the amendment, calling it ‘political opportunism’.
‘Because instead of chasing headlines we want to focus our efforts and our actions on vulnerable children,’ she said.
‘The Conservatives know that if their amendment today was to pass then this Bill would fall. They also know this Bill will deliver landmark reforms to safeguarding and children’s social care.
‘It is the biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation and we are bringing it forward to prioritise children.’
The vote was held just hours after Mrs Badenoch and Sir Keir had clashed at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Tory leader warned that Sir Keir’s refusal to support a national inquiry would fuel concerns about a ‘cover-up’.
The PM hit back at Mrs Badenoch over ‘lies and misinformation and slinging of mud’ which did not help victims of child sexual abuse.
He had urged Mrs Badenoch to drop her amendment which, if it had succeeded, would have derailed Labour’s child protection legislation.
Sir Keir said a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse.
He pointed out that recommendations from a seven-year investigation chaired by Professor Alexis Jay, which reported in 2022, had not yet been implemented.