‘It really doesn’t […] deserve a response’
MPs shouted “shame” and “it’s dangerous” at Reform MP Lee Anderson yesterday after implied safeguarding minister Jess Phillips was involved in a grooming gang cover-up.
During a Commons debate, Anderson said Phillips had failed to support a national public inquiry and accused her of a cover-up.
Addressing the Labour minister, Anderson said: “Thousands of young white British working class girls have been raped, tortured and abused by Pakistani grooming gangs, and yet this minister here refuses to support a full national public enquiry. Is she part of the cover up.”
Phillips shot back: “It really doesn’t […] it doesn’t deserve a response.”
She told Anderson that she had spent her entire career helping victims.
Phillips added: “I wonder how many victims of grooming gangs he’s sat and held hands with in court, how many he’s gone round their house in the morning to get them out of bed and get them to a courtroom.”
Before becoming an MP in 2015, Phillips worked for Women’s Aid, helping victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking and exploitation.
In January, Elon Musk posted a series of tweets accusing Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute the child grooming gangs.
Musk also called for the release of far-right figure Tommy Robinson, who is currently in jail for contempt of court, falsely claiming he was imprisoned for exposing the truth about grooming gangs.
The Tories and Reform UK quickly jumped on the bandwagon, calling for a full national inquiry into the grooming gangs.
Their calls for a national inquiry came despite Professor Alexis Jay’s seven-year investigation into sexual abuse across England and Wales, which concluded in 2022.
Jay made clear that government action on child sexual exploitation is needed, rather than a new inquiry.
While in government, the Conservatives proposed amending the inquiry’s recommendations on mandatory reporting so that failing to report child sexual abuse would not, in itself, constitute a criminal offence.
Starmer has committed to implementing the Jay inquiry’s recommendations and conducting local child sexual abuse inquiries as needed.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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