The Tories are tabling a bid to force a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal – but Labour says voting for it could kill another “landmark” child protection bill. The education secretary has hit out at the Tories, labelling them “bandwagon jumpers”.
Wednesday 8 January 2025 08:46, UK
The text of the Conservative Party’s reasoned amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill has been published on parliament’s website.
The Speaker still has to select it for it to be debated, which we will have confirmed in the coming hours.
The Tories have framed it as a bid to force the government to hold a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal – but it would not only not mandate the government to hold an inquiry, it would kill the wider bill (read why here), which the party also wants to do.
The amendment sets out the reasons for the Tories’ opposition to the bill.
It says the legislation:
Finally, the amendment “calls upon the government to develop new legislative proposals for children’s wellbeing including establishing a national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott told Sky’s Wilfred Frost on the Breakfast programme that there is “a lot of merit” in the wellbeing and safeguarding parts of the legislation.
“We will have lots of detailed amendments at committee [stage] about exactly how it’s being implemented,” she said.
“But a lot of this is things that we have brought forward previously. So we do support some of it in principle, yes.”
Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard are back for 2025 with their guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes.
The economy is back in focus today in Westminster, if borrowing continues to rise, will more department spending cuts have to follow?
The Conservatives are putting forward their amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill as grooming gangs, and the man really driving the agenda, Elon Musk, continue to be hotly debated.
And will accounts of SAS executions in Afghanistan get a mention in PMQs?
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We’ve just been speaking with the education secretary, Bridget Phillpson, ahead of the flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill having its second reading in parliament today.
She describes the bill as the “single biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation” which would ensure coordination across agencies” to ensure that we know where children are in order to “make sure that our children are protected”.
But the Tories are tabling a reasoned amendment to force a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal that, if it passes at this stage of the process, would essentially kill the whole bill, and Ms Phillipson was visibly furious when speaking about it.
She told Sky’s Wilfred Frost: “The Conservatives can back this or, as they’re proposing, can kill stone dead this key landmark legislation.
“They’ve spent the last week or so touring studios like this telling your viewers that they care about keeping children safe.
“Well, they should put up or shut up. Vote for this legislation, and do precisely that. Or is it all about grabbing a cheap headline and political opportunism?”
The education secretary also said that the announcement on Monday that the government will accept all the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, that reported in 2022, is as a result of work that was “well under way ahead of Christmas”.
She continued: “And the bandwagon jumpers that have come along in recent days – they don’t care about children, they don’t care about making sure that we stop this, and we take action.
“They [the Tories] had years to do it, and they didn’t do it. And victims and children and survivors have been failed. So let’s just get on and do what is necessary to keep children safe in our country.”
She went on to say: “Do they own a mirror? I mean, they are the very people that are responsible for the failure to act. And they are the same very people today, the Conservatives, who intend to block our legislation to keep children safe.
“I thought there wasn’t a limit to how far they would sink, and I was wrong.”
The grooming gangs scandal is back in the headlines after Elon Musk attacked Sir Keir Starmer and minister Jess Phillips for failing children.
The tech billionaire has accused Sir Keir of being “complicit” in the failure of authorities to protect victims and prosecute abusers while the PM was director of public prosecutions from 2008-2013.
Sir Keir has hit back at Musk, saying his record shows how he tackled the issue head-on.
The row started after it was revealed last week safeguarding minister Jess Phillips rejected calls from Oldham Council for a government inquiry into historical grooming gangs in the town, with Ms Phillips saying the council should lead an inquiry instead.
She has since hit back after Mr Musk’s subsequent attacks on her.
Sky News looks at a timeline of the grooming gangs scandal, inquiries and Sir Keir’s role.
By Tim Baker, political reporter
The Conservatives’ attempts to force MPs to vote for a statutory inquiry into child sex gangs would not lead to an inquiry, even if it’s supported in the Commons.
As part of the ongoing debate on the topic, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party plans to table an amendment on Wednesday to the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to require a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.
Writing on X, Ms Badenoch said she hoped “MPs from all parties” would support the inquiry.
Passing the amendment, however, would not force the government to launch such an inquiry necessarily – and would instead kill the legislation.
Read why below…
Good morning!
Welcome back to the Politics Hub on this Wednesday, 8 January 2025.
Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to face his first Prime Minister’s Questions of 2025, which comes amid an ongoing onslaught from Elon Musk.
He will face off against Kemi Badenoch across the despatch box, after which the government’s flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will have its second reading – legislation that the education secretary describes as “a crucial step forward in our mission to protect all children”.
But the Tories are tabling a reasoned amendment in a bid to force the government to order a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
Without getting too much into the weeds of parliamentary procedure – at this stage of a bill’s passage, if the reasoned amendment passes, it essentially kills the whole legislation, which has infuriated the government, and ministers are ordering their MPs to vote against it as a result.
Nonetheless, Elon Musk has overnight called Sir Keir “evil”, and said he is “hiding terrible things”, which is why “Keir Starmtrooper” is ordering his party to block a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal.
Over in parliament…
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and his ministers will face questions from MPs from 11.30am.
PMQs will take place as usual at 12pm, and then barring any urgent questions or statements, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be debated, as well as the Tory amendment (should the Speaker select it).
We’ll be discussing all of that and more with…
Follow along for the very latest political news.
We’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest from Westminster.
Until then, you can scroll through the page to catch up on Tuesday – and today’s episode of the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge.
Thanks for joining us!
Labour has faced a slew of attacks from X and Tesla owner Mr Musk in recent days, after Home Office minister Jess Phillips declined a request for a nationally led inquiry in Oldham.
Ms Phillips said she faced an increased risk to her safety since Mr Musk called her a “rape genocide apologist”, and the prime minister said the businessman crossed a line.
The Tories have joined calls by Mr Musk for a new UK-wide inquiry into child sexual abuse, despite a wide-ranging independent probe having concluded its work in 2022.
On Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch’s party will bring forward an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which will call for ministers to establish a “national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.
The amendment is unlikely to be supported by a majority in the Commons, as the government wants to roll out the recommendations of the investigation led by Professor Alexis Jay rather than open a new inquiry.
The non-binding amendment could not compel ministers to launch an inquiry and merely gives MPs a chance to voice their opinion on the issue.
It also calls for the Commons to halt the progress of the bill, which includes measures aimed at bolstering safeguarding for children.
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, has today reacted for the first time to criticisms over Labour’s reluctance to hold a government-led inquiry into grooming gangs.
Elon Musk had called Ms Phillips a “rape genocide apologist”, adding that she should be jailed – and criticising Sir Keir Starmer for failing to prosecute gangs in the past.
It came after the minister rejected a request for the government to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
The government say an inquiry of this nature – led by Professor Alexis Jay – has already taken place, and the recommendations have yet to be implemented.
You can hear what Ms Phillips had to say below:
US citizens should not interfere in UK politics, a Tory grandee has said, amid a row over comments made by billionaire businessman Elon Musk.
Ex-Conservative minister Lord Forysth of Drumlean added that the rules regarding foreign contributions to political parties need to be looked at.
His comments come as Mr Musk – who is South African-born but became a US citizen in 2002 – continues to discuss British politics on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter).
Mr Musk has been critical of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour Party, and has been a vocal supporter of Reform UK and, until recently, its leader Nigel Farage.
The pair met in December to discuss a potential donation to Reform UK, which Mr Musk’s father suggested could be as large as £80.5m.
As a US citizen, Mr Musk cannot make personal political donations in the UK, but could make one through the British branch of X.
However, after Mr Farage disagreed with Mr Musk’s support for Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League (EDL), the Space X founder called for Mr Farage to resign as leader of Reform UK.
Lord Forsyth said in the House of Lords today: “It’s time we looked at the rules regarding foreign contributions to political parties, albeit through domestic companies which they may own.
“And that we should also perhaps try and tell our nearest and dearest ally, the Americans, that just as we supported them in their resentment of Russian interference in their elections, so also we should expect American citizens not to interfere in our political process.”
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