UK politics - live: Tories lose vote on grooming gangs inquiry as Starmer hints at U-turn
The amendment to Labour’s flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill received 111 Ayes and 364 Noes
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Your support makes all the difference.A Conservative Party amendment calling for a national inquiry on grooming gangs has been rejected in the Commons.
The amendment to Labour’s flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill received 111 Ayes and 364 Noes, majority 253.
Mrs Badenoch’s amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill called for ministers “to develop new legislative proposals for children’s wellbeing including establishing a national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.
Prime minister Keir Starmer hit out at the Tory leader earlier on Wednesday over “lies and misinformation and slinging of mud” which did not help victims of child sexual abuse.
Sir Keir’s official spokesman faced questions about the possibility of a national inquiry after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips told Sky News “nothing is off the table” in dealing with the scandal.
The spokesman said the PM and his minister were of the same view, and insisted the Government’s response is “rooted in what victims want”.
He added: “But as the Prime Minister said on Monday we will always remain open-minded. We will always listen to local authorities who want to take forward inquiries, or indeed further allegations that need to be followed up.”
Government approach on grooming is ‘what the victims want’, No10 says
The Government’s approach on grooming is “rooted in what victims want” for justice, Downing Street has said.
Asked whether a new inquiry would be off the table, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Our position is that victims groups have told us that they do not want to see a national inquiry, that we therefore share that view that that would not be the best way to deliver them justice.”
He added: “We’re not taking some sort of binary approach on this.”
He later went on: “The Government’s approach is rooted in what victims want in order to deliver justice.
“And all of the engagement that we have had with victims groups and survivors groups, everything that you’ve heard from Professor Alexis Jay in recent days (…) they want the Government to be focussed on delivering action, not instigating new national inquiries.”
Downing Street criticises Tory amendment on Education Bill
Downing Street has said that a vote for the Conservatives’ amendment on Wednesday would be a vote against legislation that would keep children safe.
Asked if there was any response to the Speaker selecting the amendment on Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister said in the House, a vote for this amendment is a vote to kill the bill.
“It would be a vote against legislation that would keep the very children safe.”
He added that the Government is “focused on delivering action for children, raising standards in schools, delivering on the cost of living for parents”.
Parents will need permission to home school children under new bill, minister says
Parents will need permission to home school children on a child protection plan, if the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill clears the Commons, Bridget Phillipson has told MPs.
The Education Secretary told the Commons about “a new requirement for local authority consent for parents to home educate their children if they are on a child protection plan, or subject to child protection inquiry”.
She said: “I respect the rights of parents to make choices about their child’s education, but children’s safety must always come first, and under this Government, their safety will always come first.”
Former Tory minister brands Labour education bill as ‘socialist’
Conservative former minister Graham Stuart has warned the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will “bring about kind-of a gross, socialist uniformity” in the education sector.
Intervening in Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s speech, the MP for Beverley and Holderness told the Commons: “We must all in this House recognise that we follow in the footsteps of giants. Tony Blair, Lord Adonis and others created the academy system which was built on under the last Conservative government and brought about a transformation of English education.
“Why does the Secretary of State want to dismantle the work of decades by members across this House and bring about kind-of a gross, socialist uniformity which will destroy the progress that has been made?”
Ms Phillipson replied: “That’s just simply a mischaracterisation and (Mr Stuart) knows it.”
She later described “my outrage at the excessive and exploitative profit-making we have seen from some private providers” of children’s social care.
The Education Secretary added: “It is shameful, it is unacceptable and it will end.”
Education secretary accuses Tories of ‘chasing headlines’ as she introduces children’s safety bill
The Conservatives are “chasing headlines” with their amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would decline to give it a second reading, the education secretary has alleged.
Introducing the Bill, Bridget Phillipson told the Commons: “No more lessons learned, no more paper pushing, no more foot-dragging. It is time for government to act.”
She listed the new measures in the Bill to protect children, including “a new legal obligation for safeguarding partners to work hand-in-hand with education”, a duty to establish multi-agency child protection teams, and a new compulsory not-in-school register in every area of England.
Ms Phillipson told MPs: “A vote against this Bill today is a vote against the safety of our children, a vote against their childhoods and against their futures.
“Today, Conservative MPs have a choice. They can choose to back measures to protect children or they can choose to chase headlines. They can choose to transform the lives of the most vulnerable young people in this country, or they can choose to sacrifice their safety for political gain.”
She continued: “I want to be very clear about the conduct of politicians be they on the benches opposite or anywhere else who put the pursuit of headlines today above the safety of children tomorrow - it is sickening and it is shameful.”
Jeremy Corbyn has accused Keir Starmer of “betraying” the health service with a much greater role for the private sector, which he warns will hollow out the NHS.
In one of his first major interventions on an issue outside of the crisis in the Middle East, the former Labour leader also accused Sir Keir of “abandoning” working class voters with a series of broken pledges, in an article for The Independent.
It comes after the Labour leader announced on Monday that private hospitals will provide up to a million extra appointments, scans and operations a year as the government scrambles to cut sky-high waiting lists.
The move is a significant expansion of the independent sector’s role in tackling long delays that have built up in part because of the Covid pandemic.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Corbyn accuses Starmer of ‘betraying’ NHS with greater role for private sector
Exclusive: Former Labour leader hits out, accusing prime minister of ‘broken pledges’ on the two-child benefit cap, winter fuel and ‘selling off’ the health service
Downing street indicates it is open to a further inquiry into child sexual abuse
The Government is “open-minded” about the possibility of a further national inquiry into child sexual abuse, No 10 indicated.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman was asked about Home Office minister Jess Phillips’ suggestion in a broadcast interview that nothing was off the table to deal with the legacy of the scandal.
He responded: “The Prime Minister’s position is the same as Jess Phillips’, which is we are open of course and will always listen to what victims want in this case.
“What we have heard from our engagement with victims and survivors group is they want to see action. That is why we are focused on following up the recommendations of Professor Alexis Jay and taking the actions we need to deliver justice.”
Pressed about the matter, he added that “significant” engagement with victims groups had shown “they do not want to see a national inquiry, they want action taken to deliver justice”.
He added: “But as the Prime Minister said on Monday we will always remain open-minded. We will always listen to local authorities who want to take forward inquiries, or indeed further allegations that need to be followed up.”
Starmer insists minister Tulip Siddiq ‘acted appropriately’ after watchdog self-referral
Sir Keir Starmer said Treasury minster Tulip Siddiq has “acted appropriately” in referring herself for investigation over links with the deposed former prime minister of Bangladesh.
Tory MP Gregory Stafford told the Commons: “First of all, we had a Chancellor who embellished her CV, then we had a transport secretary with a fraud conviction, and now we’ve got an anti-corruption minister who is being investigated for corruption.
“Now, I know the prime minister likes living in free accommodation, but does he really think it’s appropriate that his minister is being given free housing by the political allies of some very dubious foreign regimes?”
Sir Keir replied: “The City minister has acted appropriately by referring herself to the independent adviser. We brought in our new ministerial code to allow ministers to establish the facts and I’m not going to give a running commentary on that.”
Tories copy infamous Labour attack ad used against Sunak
The Tories have copied Labour’s infamous attack ad which claimed in 2023 that Rishi Sunak did not believe in jailing those convicted of child sex abuse.
The new Tory advert states: “Do you think there should be an inquiry into rape gangs? Keir Starmer doesn’t.”
Breaking: MPs to vote on Tory call for grooming gangs inquiry, Speaker decides
Kemi Badenoch’s call for the government to establish a national inquiry into grooming gangs will be put to a Commons vote tonight, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has decided.
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