Forum Topic

Starmer will block national inquiry into grooming gangs TODAY

He seems determined to perpetuate this cover-up. No chance, the genie is out of the bottle now.Is #Cover-UpKeir terrified of alienating Labour's Muslim voters? Is he being influenced by his very close personal friend and benefactor, Lord Alli, who is also Muslim? He also happens to be one of Labour's largest financial donors donors and the bringer of lavish gifts. The PM has ordered his MPs to oppose an amendment tabled by Kemi Badenoch that would trigger a new official probe. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the decision showed 'total moral cowardice'. The victims of these heinous child rape gangs deserve honesty, and they deserve the truth,' he said.Mr Philp said previous inquiries had failed to get to the bottom of the issue.'Labour's decision risks perpetuating the cover-up of the rape gangs,' he said.Victims campaigner Dame Jasvinder Sanghera said she 'fully supported' a public inquiry - and warned that rape and abuse of young girls by gangs of men was still continuing.Dame Jasvinder said the government's approach to multiculturalism still appeared to be to 'minimise the risk of offending communities as opposed to actually dealing with the very problem'.https://mol.im/a/14261925

Sue Hammond ● 64d16 Comments

Martine and Robert of course the victims of this terrible affair must be heard, as they were in Prof. Jay's report (a quarter of which was devoted to listening to their voices: have you read the report?), so the meme that's going around that the victims' voices must be heard is not particularly helpful, to put it mildly since it's essentially a distraction pushed by those who claim now that they had "accepted" the findings, but disgracefully did nothing about them.Just listen to what she said, which was that a further enquiry would only be a distraction resulting in yet further delay, when what is needed is ACTION NOW.

Richard Carter ● 64d

Philippa, you said “There is a distinct lack of mention of parental responsibility on this thread”.  Are you blaming the victim’s families.  Please explain what you meant.

Martine Guy ● 64d

'The Iraq Inquiry took 7 years to report. And what really did it do?'Showed Alastair Campbell was devious and misleading and helped justify actions that resulted in the deaths of many British soldiers and Iraqi civilians.'Iraq – Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation (more commonly known as the Iraq Dossier, the February Dossier or the Dodgy Dossier) was a 2003 briefing document for the British prime minister Tony Blair's Labour Party government. It was issued to journalists on 3 February 2003 by Alastair Campbell, Blair's Director of Communications and Strategy, and concerned Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. Along with the earlier September Dossier, these documents were ultimately used by the British government to justify its involvement in the invasion of Iraq in 2003'.And of course showed Blair was weak and looking for any 'evidence' that would justify his support the US' invasion of Iraq.No weapons of mass destruction were found.

John Hawkes ● 64d

There are changing already being made and the Bill needs to go forward.  Martine:  Did you listen to David Renton's programme on Radio 4 today?  Or Today in Parliament?  There has already been an Inquiry or two and political grandstanding by the right wing now - IMO to hoodwink those who have not been following/paid attention to these problems much/at all and/or are xenophobes that they care - is likely to hold progress back in dealing with this problem.By the way have you also looked at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation information on child poverty in the UK?  The first years of a child's life are really important.What do you think about lowering the age of consent?

Philippa Bond ● 64d

If thousands of victims agree with Professor Jay, then I will accept it, however if the majority of the victims disagree and aren’t happy, then they should get a public inquiry.

Martine Guy ● 64d

Richard are you aware of how many children have been impacted by this outrage.“The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) looked at institutional failings and found there were tens of thousands of victims across the two nations when its final report was published in October 2022.” The StandardSo tens of thousands of children across our nation.  Why can’t a Public inquiry happen at the same time as Jay’s recommendations and no it isn’t jumping on some so called far right bandwagon.  Simply put if it is wrong those in charge should put it right as the victims want.

Robert Wheeler ● 64d

The Iraq Inquiry took 7 years to report. And what really did it do?

David Ainsworth ● 64d

Martine, I care very much that it has become a political football because the attention has been drawn away from justice for the children and has been centered in political scoring.The children and their families need justice - urgently!  Prof Jay's report is there to be acted upon and, any issues the families believe are missing then yes, instruct an independent enquiry with the view of reporting within the year.  As Prof Jay said, another inquiry would delay action - and action now is what is needed.

Ivonne Holliday ● 64d

David, the victims aren’t satisfied.  What they suffered is truly awful.  They should get whatever they want from the Government to achieve justice.  To me this isn’t about politics, this is about what children went through and are probably still going through, as I very much doubt this has stopped.  
I would like to hear the names of the people who called children “child prostitutes”, and  who suggested these children were making lifestyle choices and called them liars.  Who were the officials who left the children at the mercy of these rapist thugs and blamed the victims and their families.

Martine Guy ● 64d

"I don’t care if it has become a political football, if it gets justice for the victims of child rape, trafficking and exploitation."The Tories had many years to act on it. Suddenly it is possible to for them to use it against Starmer who did act years ago.

David Ainsworth ● 64d

I don’t care if it has become a political football, if it gets justice for the victims of child rape, trafficking and exploitation.

Martine Guy ● 64d

Is there nothing these creeps won't stoop to? It's clear to anyone who bothers to look beyond the headlines that this is blatant bandwagon jumping. Badenoch and Philp bleating about moral cowardice is bad enough (haven't they seen Prof Jay's statement that yet another enquiry would delay the action that's needed? And the last government thought her report was so important they failed to implement a single of its recommendations!) but Jenrick appealing to the bigots' vote with his disgustingly xenophobic comments is beyond the pale.

Richard Carter ● 64d

This is about giving the victims the justice they want. As regards getting to the bottom of the issue, the victims must think there is more to be said and to be heard by the public.  It’s not a good look for the Labour Party to refuse this request for a National Inquiry by the mostly working class victims of the gang rapists.

Martine Guy ● 64d

Do we really need a brand new inquiry or one that addresses the issues not covered by the current report published in 2022?  Do we really need to wait another 8 years before something is published?As Michael says, it has become a political football which is truly shameful.

Ivonne Holliday ● 64d

It's become a political football to determine who's in the driving seat.

Michael Ixer ● 64d

"Mr Philp said previous inquiries had failed to get to the bottom of the issue."And what is at the bottom of the issue, that we do not know about?

David Ainsworth ● 64d