Sir Keir Starmer directly urged Kemi Badenoch to drop her call for a national inquiry on grooming gangs because it would mean derailing legislation aimed at bolstering the safety of children.
At Prime Minister’s Questions Sir Keir said a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse, pointing out that recommendations from a seven-year investigation which reported in 2022 had not yet been implemented.
The Tories have tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill demanding a new national inquiry into gangs, but if MPs backed Mrs Badenoch’s call it would prevent the legislation making progress.
Mrs Badenoch warned that failing to back an inquiry would fuel concerns about a “cover-up”.
But Sir Keir urged the Tory leader to “withdraw her wrecking amendment” to the Government’s Bill.
In heated Commons exchanges, Sir Keir said: “This morning, I met some of the victims and survivors of this scandal, and they were clear with me that they want action now, not the delay of a further inquiry.”
He said “there have been a number of inquiries, both national and local, including one covering Oldham, and reasonable people can agree or disagree on whether a further inquiry is necessary”.
But calling for Mrs Badenoch to pull her “wrecking amendment”, the Prime Minister said: “What I find shocking is that anyone in this House would vote down the Children’s Wellbeing Bill this afternoon, vital protections for the most vulnerable in our society.”
He said the Conservative leader had “jumped on the bandwagon” about grooming gangs but while in office as children’s minister and equalities minister “I can’t recall her once raising this issue in the House, once calling for a national inquiry”.
The Tory leader hit back: “The Prime Minister called for nine inquiries in the last parliament. Does he not see that by resisting this one, people will start to worry about a cover-up?”
She urged the former director of public prosecutions to “be a leader, not a lawyer”.
The Prime Minister told the Tory leader that “lies and misinformation and slinging of mud doesn’t help one bit”.
The issue has become a political storm after X boss Elon Musk used his social media platform to launch a barrage of attacks at Sir Keir and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.
In response to Labour’s opposition to calls for a national inquiry, Mr Musk called Sir Keir “Starmtrooper” and accused him of trying to cover up “terrible things”.
Mrs Badenoch’s amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill calls for ministers “to develop new legislative proposals for children’s wellbeing including establishing a national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.
The amendment is unlikely to be approved in the Commons due to Labour’s massive majority, as the Government wants to roll out the recommendations of the investigation led by Professor Alexis Jay rather than open a new inquiry.
If it was passed, the amendment would halt the progress of the Bill, which includes measures aimed at improving safeguarding for children.
The Bill would mean parents no longer had an automatic right to take their children out of school for home education if the young person was subject to a child protection investigation or suspected of being at risk of significant harm.
Sara Sharif, 10, was pulled out of school just months before she was murdered by her father and stepmother.
Home schooling allowed her abuse to carry on “beyond the gaze of the authorities”, the judge sentencing her killers warned in December.
Critics claim Sir Keir wants to avoid a national inquiry as it could put the focus on his time as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.
The Prime Minister has defended his record, pointing out that he brought the “first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang” and changed the approach to dealing with similar cases.
But Mr Musk wrote: “Now why would Keir Starmtrooper order his own party to block such an inquiry? Because he is hiding terrible things. That is why.”
Prof Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which reported in 2022, says “the time has passed” for another lengthy examination of grooming gangs.
On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government would begin to implement Prof Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.
Child victims of grooming gangs must be heard and protected. For years I have worked closely with survivors to tackle this horrific issue.
Today's Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill offers a real chance for change. We must grasp this or we continue to fail children. pic.twitter.com/eh45sosJfo
— Children's Commissioner for England (@ChildrensComm) January 8, 2025
England’s Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said that while actions must be taken now, she would “support any further investigation considered necessary”.
She said: “I welcome the commitments already made by the Government and the landmark legislation being taken through Parliament in the form of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – but this is the moment to go much further, faster.
“Our collective ambition must be to listen to what child victims have told us, through their testimonies to the Jay inquiry, as well as through my own research, and get on with the hard task of acting in response. I am due to meet Professor Alexis Jay shortly to discuss the best way forward.
“I will support any further investigation considered necessary to uncover the scale and scope of failings, where any new evidence emerges.”
