UK Lawmakers Reject Proposal for Inquiry into Grooming Gangs Scandal
UK lawmakers have voted against the proposal to start a new inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal on Wednesday. The proposal was brought forward by the Conservative Party, which is in the opposition.
The proposal was presented as an amendment to the Children’s Well being and Schools Bill. The amendment was voted down by a vote of 364 to 111 in the House of Commons, resulting in a majority of 253. With the approval of the house, the amendment would have struck down the bill which intends to protect children and bring reform in academics.
Starmer’s Speech before the vote
During the debate, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of a “cover-up” for refusing a new inquiry, arguing that no comprehensive investigation had been conducted into the racial or cultural aspects of the crimes. Prime Minister Keir Starmer countered by accusing Badenoch of politicising the issue, saying she had not raised the matter during her tenure in the previous Conservative government.
“What we need now is action. What can’t be tolerated is the idea that this afternoon members opposite will vote down a bill which protects children,” Starmer said ahead of the vote, calling it a “wrecking amendment.”
“Be a leader, not a lawyer,” Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party Leader, pushed back, as she said that a new inquiry should investigate the connected issues between the towns.
“The reason why a national inquiry is important is because this issue is systemic,” she added, involving “local and national officials, the police, prosecutors and politicians. These interlinked issues cannot be covered by local inquiries alone”
The grooming scandal first came into limelight in 2010, involving the abuse of young girls in towns like Rochdale, Oldham, and Rotherham by British-Pakistani men. A 2014 inquiry also revealed that 1,400 children were exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, while nearly 1,000 girls were abused over four decades in Telford. Another inquiry in 2022 found that child sexual abuse was “endemic” across England and Wales but did not focus specifically on these incidents.
Elon Musk Criticism
The issue has gained international attention, with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk criticising Starmer for his handling. Musk, who has been hammering away at the issue on X – even calling for the prosecution of top U.K. government officials, including Starmer – appealed again to the British public before the vote.
Musk accused Starmer of failing to bring perpetrators to justice and even called on King Charles to intervene.
“Please call your member of parliament and tell them that the hundreds of thousands of little girls in Britain who were, and are still are, being systematically, horrifically gang-raped deserve some justice in this world,” Musk said on X on Wednesday.
“This is vitally important, or it will just keep happening,” he said.
Starmer had previously slammed “lies and misinformation” without naming Musk directly, and had accused U.K. politicians of jumping on a “bandwagon of the far-right.”
On Wednesday, he again accused Badenoch of jumping on a bandwagon and urged lawmakers to make sure the broader bill passed.
