A Labour minister has said her party will vote against Kemi Badenoch’s call for a full public inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
Alex Davies-Jones said the government was focused on implementing the recommendation of a previous inquiry into the issue, carried out by Professor Alexis Jay when the Tories were still in power.
Jay herself has also said that a fresh inquiry is not needed.
The rape and torture of vulnerable girls by gangs of men across the country has shot to the top of the political agenda in recent days after Elon Musk attacked Labour over its response.
That came after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips rejected an appeal from Oldham Council for a government-led inquiry into the issue.
Keir Starmer yesterday said Musk had “crossed a line” by personally attacking Phillips, and accused the Conservatives of amplifying the “far right” by demanding a public inquiry.
Badenoch, the Tory leader, announced on Monday that her party was aiming to force a vote on the issue on Wednesday.
Posting on X, she said: “I was serious when I said it’s time to get justice for victims.
“So on Wednesday, Conservatives will put forward an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to require a full national inquiry into the rape gangs grooming scandal.
“If the amendment is selected, I hope MPs from all parties will vote to support the inquiry, so we can do right by the victims and end the culture of cover ups.”
On Sky News this morning, presenter Wilf Frost grilled Davies-Jones, who is the minister for victims and violence against women and girls, about the controversy.
He said: “The Conservatives are putting forward an amendment to a bill to try and force a vote on whether there should be a full, national statutory inquiry into the grooming scandal. If that vote goes ahead, how will you vote on it?”
The minister replied: “I won’t vote for it because we’ve already had a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation and abuse.
“The Professor Alexis Jay inquiry conducted an extensive investigation. Over 700 brave victims and survivors gave their testimony to that, and it is for them that we need to deliver justice and we need to get on with the job of delivering for them and working at pace to deliver those recommendations that the previous government failed to do.”
She added: “If, once those recommendations have been implemented, there is further work to do, then of course we will do that work.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp later responded calling the decision “total moral cowardice”.
He said: “The Labour party announcing they will whip their MPs to vote against a national inquiry into this scandal is total moral cowardice from Keir Starmer and his Labour party. The victims of these heinous child rape gangs deserve honesty, and they deserve the truth.”
He said many towns have not been looked into and “local inquiries don’t have the legal powers to compel production of evidence”.
“Labour’s decision risks perpetuating the cover-up of the rape gangs,” Philp said.
“There will be many Labour MPs in constituencies where these awful crimes took place and where victims still seek justice. They now need to think long and hard about which side of history they want to be on.”