Health Secretary Wes Streeting has labelled Elon Musk “misinformed” for his reaction to Britain’s numerous grooming gang scandals in the wake of a mass outcry over a GB News exclusive.
Just days ago, The People’s Channel revealed that Labour had formally rejected repeated requests for a Home Office-led inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham.
That sparked a frenzied row – with Musk making the incendiary claim that Labour’s Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips should be sent to prison, and accusing Sir Keir Starmer of failing to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Now, Streeting has offered the highest-profile Labour riposte to date – and has offered an olive branch to Musk in the process.
Wes Streeting has offered the highest-profile Labour riposte to the outcry to date
PA
“Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed,” Streeting told reporters on Friday.
“But we’re willing to work with Elon Musk,” he added.
“I think he’s got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries to tackle this serious issue.
“So if he wants to work with us, roll his sleeves up. We’d welcome that.”
LATEST ON BRITAIN’S GROOMING GANGS SHAME:
‘We’re willing to work with Elon Musk,’ Streeting said
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Streeting also cautioned how “political correctness was able to get in the way of going after the perpetrators of these serious crimes”.
He added: “We’re not going to let that happen.”
Phillips had said it was up to “Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene”.
But Musk claimed “the real reason she’s refusing to investigate the rape gangs is that it would obviously lead to the blaming of Keir Starmer (head of the CPS at the time)”.
Yvette Cooper (centre-left) and Jess Phillips (centre-right) have been on the receiving end of a mass uproar over the scandal
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In 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse published its final report, which described child sexual abuse as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.
And today, Streeting has vowed that Labour is “committed” to putting its recommendations into action “in full”.
“This Government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into child sexual abuse,” he said.
“We will do that in full. We will get on with the job.”