Labour MPs have been accused of an “act of cowardice” after voting by 364 to 111 against calls for a new national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said the Prime Minister “cannot tell the House the full scale of the scandal” and “does not want questions asked of Labour politicians who may be complicit.”
The vote came despite calls from victims’ groups and Nigel Farage of Reform UK for a comprehensive investigation to uncover the truth about the abuse of vulnerable girls, primarily by British-Pakistani gangs, across the country.
Chis Philp, the shadow home secretary, accused Labour MPs of “turning a blind eye to justice for the victims”. He said they had “put their Party ahead of getting to the truth.”
The amendment was tabled on the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which includes measures to tackle child sexual abuse. If it had passed, the entire Bill would have fallen.
Ahead of the vote, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and key ally of former US president Donald Trump, urged voters to contact their MPs to back the inquiry, accusing Ms Philips of being a “rape genocide apologist” for opposing it.
The Prime Minister has admitted that vulnerable girls were let down under his watch as director of public prosecutions, when police and prosecutors failed to take action against suspected grooming gangs over fears they would be called racist or Islamophobic.
