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MPs debate children’s safety bill after Sir Keir Starmer urges Kemi Badenoch to ‘withdraw her wrecking amendment’
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Kemi Badenoch’s call for the government to establish a national inquiry into grooming gangs will be put to a Commons vote on Wednesday.
Echoing demands by billionaire Elon Musk, Ms Badenoch has tabled an amendment to Labour’s children’s safety bill for a symbolic vote to call on ministers to open a new national probe into child sexual exploitation.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has warned that the Tory move, if successful, would leave the Labour Bill “stone dead”, describing it as “the biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation”. Sir Keir used PMQs to urge Conservative MPs to back it later on Wednesday.
Urging Tory MPs to back the Bill during PMQs, Sir Keir accused Ms Badenoch of a “shortsighted, misguided, bandwagon-jumping approach”, and said he could not recall her ever raising the issue in the eight years she has been an MP.
Pressed by the Tory leader that failing to call a new inquiry would fuel “cover-up” claims, the PM accused Ms Badenoch of spreading “lies and misinformation”.
Ahead of the vote at around 7pm, No 10 indicated that the government is “open-minded” about the possibility of a further national inquiry into child sexual abuse “and will always listen to what victims want in this case”.
Labour has accused the Tories of using the child sexual abuse scandal to raise funds for the party, after it launched a campaign website and sent out emails to supporters asking them to sign a petition on the site which calls for a national inquiry into child grooming.
The party also includes a link for donations at the bottom of its email.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch has stooped to a new low, fundraising for the Conservative Party by playing politics with the safety of vulnerable children. This shows breath-taking disrespect to brave victims who are being used as a political football by the Conservatives.
“The Tories failed to implement the Jay recommendations to protect vulnerable children. Any money raised by the Conservatives must be donated to victims of child sexual abuse: this attempt to fill their party bank account off the back of such a sensitive subject is a disgrace.
“This Labour Government is taking action with landmark reforms to safeguarding and children’s social care. No more empty words or ‘lessons learned’, but real action to keep children safe.”
The political storm over calls for new inquiry on grooming gangs started after Elon Musk used his social media platform to launch a barrage of attacks at Sir Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips.
Mr Musk called for a national probe, while sharing wild and baseless claims about Labour ministers.
Ahead of vote on Tory leader Kem Badenoch’s amendment to the child safety Bill, calling for ministers start a statutory inquiry on grooming gangs, Mr Musk has shared a message on his social media platform.
He wrote: “Please call your member of parliament and tell them that the hundreds of thousands of little girls in Britain who were, and are still being systematically, horrifically gang-raped deserve some justice in this world. This is vitally important or it will just keep happening.”
Mr Musk has also been sharing clips of Reform UK MPs speaking at the debate which comes before the vote, set to take place at around 7pm.
A register of children not in school – as mandated in Labour’s new children’s safety bill – is an “additional measure” which could have helped improve the safety of murdered 10-year-old Sara Sharif, the Lib Dems’ education spokesperson has said.
Munira Wilson told the Commons: “All the evidence points towards the fact that education and schools – and that’s why it’s in the Bill – have to be a key safeguarding partner, so where a child is at risk and has been identified as being at risk, ensuring that that child is in school, as this Bill seeks to do, will help to safeguard them.
“But we saw too tragically in the recent case of Sara Sharif the fact that she was taken out of school and then being abused at home and tragically died, but the point is this is just an additional measure to make sure that she is safe.”
In a damning admission, Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson confirmed she has not yet met any victims of the grooming gangs scandal and that she currently has no plans to do so.
Her spokesperson said her calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs are based on what she has read in the media and other reports.
Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to a u-turn on his refusal to hold an inquiry into grooming gangs, Downing Street has confirmed.
After safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said a new national probe into the scandal was still on the table, the prime minister’s official spokesman said the government would grant one if victims’ groups called for it.
“Jess Phillips has been engaging extensively with victims, and what we have heard loud and clear from victims is that they do not want to see more inquiries,” he said.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
After safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said a new national probe into the scandal was still on the table, the prime minister’s official spokesman said the government would grant one if victims’ groups called for it
As the PM stands by his Treasury minister despite allegations of corruption, MPs are wondering if there is ‘one rule for us’ and another for his allies, writes Andrew Grice
Kemi Badenoch condemns the abuse directed at Home Office minister Jess Phillips following Elon Musk’s social media attacks on her, her spokesman said, but the Tory leader remains a fan of the billionaire’s work.
Asked about the abuse faced by Ms Phillips, a spokesman for the Leader of the Opposition said: “Any abuse directed towards MPs is obviously disgraceful and should not happen, and as a black, Conservative woman, Kemi gets more than her fair share.”
Press whether she remained a fan of Mr Musk, the spokesman said: “She is a fan of what he has done with his companies.”
The shadow education secretary has said planned reforms to the education system will see the loss of any progress made in the last decade in school standards.
Speaking against the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the Commons, Laura Trott said: “The very policies that saw our schools rise up the international league tables are being reversed.
“I guarantee you, just as we went up as a result of this Bill, we will come down those very same rankings. And who will be the ones that will suffer? The poorest pupils in society.”
She said moves to ensure academies teach the national curriculum were being brought in as the Government disagreed with headteachers such as Katharine Birbalsingh, who is headteacher at the Michaela Academy in Brent.
Ms Trott said: “The academy programme was expanded 50 times under the last government, and that we went up in terms of actual rankings, not down.
“The Bill is abolishing academies in all but name, and for what? Because education ministers think they know better than Katharine Birbalsingh and Sir John Coles.”
Kemi Badenoch was wrong to claim that a cross-party group of MPs included “talking about sex groomers” in its definition of Islamophobia, the group has said.
Responding to the Tory leader’s comments at Prime Minister’s Questions, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims said: “If the Leader of the Opposition thoroughly read the report, she would understand the report speaks about the collective smear and trope being used against all British Muslims, a point which she accepted in her own words, and does not speak about legitimate concerns about criminal activity committed by specific individuals.
“There is nothing racist or Islamophobic about addressing any crime or protecting victims, regardless of the ethnicity or faith of the perpetrator.”
The group added: “The whipping (up) of far-right conspiracies on this issue has already taken lives, including in this country.
“The APPG’s definition of Islamophobia is not there to stop free speech or curtail such freedoms, but politicians must act responsibly and understand that by whipping up far-right narratives to support their political interests can lead to dangerous ramifications that do have consequences.”
The group also pointed to the case of Mushin Ahmed, an 81-year-old Muslim man who was murdered on his way to the mosque in Rotherham in 2015 by a man who accused him of being a “groomer”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will meet with the French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters on Wednesday: “Tomorrow the Prime Minister will meet French president Emmanuel Macron.
“The meeting will focus on areas of cooperation and shared global challenges including support for Ukraine, tech and AI, growth and tackling illegal migration.”
The meeting will take place at Chequers.
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