Labour is facing a cross-party pile-on following a “cowardly” U-turn on committing to grooming gang inquiries across five towns blighted by the abuse scandal.
Yesterday afternoon, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips had confirmed a £5million-valued five-way probe into grooming gangs would be reallocated into a “flexible fund”.
But now, the Government has been branded “disgraceful”, “despicable” and “cowardly” – and has been accused of “running scared of the extremist Muslim vote”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he “tried to push the Government on holiding a full national inquiry” but dropped the plans after the Home Secretary announced the five probes.
“You’ve got to ask yourself… Why are they doing this? This Government is pandering, because it’s scared of the Gaza independents. It’s scared of that extremist Muslim vote that exists within our inner cities,” he added.
Farage was one of a number of high-profile figures on the British right to voice his fury on Tuesday. Richard Tice, Andrea Jenkyns, Liz Truss and Rupert Lowe have all poured scorn on Labour.
“Labour are terrified of the pro-Gaza vote and the extremist inner city vote,” Tice said. “This is why they have reneged on holding formal inquiries into child rape gangs on white girls. Gutless cowards.”
Jenkyns added: “Despicable. Labour has cancelled the grooming gang inquiry. There must be justice for these children,” while Truss branded reports of Rotherham riots imprisonments overtaking those of rape gang members an example of “two-tier Britain”.
And in a dire warning, Lowe added: “Sectarian politics is here to stay. It will grow and grow and grow. Demands for Pakistani airports will soon be the least of our concerns.”
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Robert Jenrick weighs in as GB News reveals Rotherham riot convictions EXCEED those jailed for grooming gang abuse
Robert Jenrick has become the latest high-profile figure to speak out on the reignition of Britain’s grooming gangs fury after GB News revealed that more people have been jailed for rioting in Rotherham than for participating in rape gang abuse.
The Shadow Justice Secretary, writing on social media this morning, said: “More people were sentenced in Rotherham for the summer riots than for decades-long rape gangs in the town. Starmer’s called for countless national inquiries – but not one into rape gangs. It’s two-tier justice. The fight for answers and accountability must go on.”
South Yorkshire Police have made over 100 arrests in connection with the summer disorder, with 93 convictions.
And GB News has found that, to date, there have been 68 convictions for group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation in the town.
READ THE FULL STORY BY NATIONAL REPORTER CHARLIE PETERS HERE
Home Office: Reports of £5m funding U-turn ‘patently false’
The Home Office has branded reports that Labour dropped its commitment to grooming gang inquiries “patently false”.
A spokesman told GB News yesterday: “That is patently false. The £5million funding announced in January is being made available to local authorities to help strengthen local responses to child sexual exploitation, and all local authorities will be able to apply for funding for local inquiries or other work in this area.
“The Home Secretary has written to every local authority on our plans to support local inquiries, and after listening to local authorities about what they need, we made the decision to implement the fund in a flexible way.”
It’s understood that the department will still support authorities which want to launch their own inquiries, but a national-level probe will not go ahead.
The Home Secretary had written last month to all local authorities to tell them about the plans – and an announcement on how councils can apply for funding is expected soon.
RECAP: Labour DROPS commitment for five local grooming gang inquiries
Yesterday afternoon, Labour dropped its commitment for five grooming gang inquiries on the final day before Parliament broke up for Easter recess.
In January, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledged £5million to support five local investigations into grooming gangs. However, this has now been reallocated into a “flexible” £5million fund.
The Government said it would still support inquiries if requested by local authorities but it no longer committed to five.
Tory MP Robbie Moore said that the five local inquiries had “been kicked into the long grass” – and branded the dropping “a complete and utter disgrace”.
Meanwhile, opposition sources told GB News they received just 45 minutes’ notice of the contents of the update.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE