Keir Starmer has slammed Kemi Badenoch for demanding a national inquiry into child grooming gangs despite never mentioning it while she was a minister.
The Conservative Party is planning on voting down Labour’s Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill this afternoon in favour of an amendment calling for a fresh probe.
It comes after tech billionaire Elon Musk repeatedly attacked Starmer’s government for supposedly not doing enough to prosecute child abusers – years after the final review into the scandal was released.
Addressing Badenoch in PMQs, the prime minister suggested she was just jumping on the “bandwagon” by only raising the issue of grooming gangs now.
He said: “The leader of the opposition has been an MP I think for eight years.
“Her party have been in government for seven and a half of those eight years.
“She was the children’s minister. She was the women’s and equalities minister.
“I can’t recall her once raising this issue in the house, once calling for a national inquiry.
“It’s only in recent days that she has jumped on the bandwagon.”
He added: “If I’m wrong about that, then I invite her to say that now and I will happily withdraw the remark that she hasn’t raised it in this House in the eight years that she’s been here until today.”
As Labour backbenchers heckled her, Badenoch hit back: “The prime minister is being very specific because I have raised this issue, I have raised it in speeches, I have raised it publicly.
“He knows that as a minister, I would have been speaking on this specific issue I was not a home office minister.”
She said another inquiry was needed because the issue is “systemic” and cannot be covered by local probes alone.
The PM also said that, having met with some victims of the scandal early on Wednesday himself, “they were clear with me that they want action now, not the delay of a further inquiry.”
He pointed out that Professor Alexis Jay’s inquiry into child sex abuse took seven years (2015 to 2022) and so a subsequent one could not be released until 2031.
“I think action is what is required,” the PM said. “But whatever your view, whatever anyone’s view on whether a further inquiry is needed, what I find shocking is that anyone in this House would vote down the children’s Wellbeing Bill this afternoon which is vital protections for the most vulnerable in our society.”
Today’s proposal intends to prevent vulnerable pupils from disappearing within the education system.
Starmer said: “I urge the leader of the opposition to withdraw her wrecking amendment!”
The PM even made a direct plea to Tory MP, and said: “I implore members opposite to defy the misleading leadership of the leader of the opposition and vote for a really important bill.”