PMQs live: MPs to vote on grooming gangs inquiry after Starmer accuses Badenoch of ‘lies and misinformation’
MPs debate children’s safety bill after Sir Keir Starmer urges Kemi Badenoch to ‘withdraw her wrecking amendment’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Kemi Badenoch’s call for the government to establish a national inquiry into grooming gangs will be put to a Commons vote on Wednesday.
Echoing demands by billionaire Elon Musk, Ms Badenoch has tabled an amendment to Labour’s children’s safety bill for a symbolic vote to call on ministers to open a new national probe into child sexual exploitation.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has warned that the Tory move, if successful, would leave the Labour Bill “stone dead”, describing it as “the biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation”. Sir Keir used PMQs to urge Conservative MPs to back it later on Wednesday.
Urging Tory MPs to back the Bill during PMQs, Sir Keir accused Ms Badenoch of a “shortsighted, misguided, bandwagon-jumping approach”, and said he could not recall her ever raising the issue in the eight years she has been an MP.
Pressed by the Tory leader that failing to call a new inquiry would fuel “cover-up” claims, the PM accused Ms Badenoch of spreading “lies and misinformation”.
Ahead of the vote, No 10 indicated that the government is “open-minded” about the possibility of a further national inquiry into child sexual abuse “and will always listen to what victims want in this case”.
Kemi Badenoch warns PM that public will worry about a ‘cover up’ if he blocks inquiry
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that by blocking a national inquiry into grooming gangs the public would “start to worry about a cover-up”, pointing out the Sir Keir Starmer called for nine enquiries over the course of the last parliament.
She said that “not a single person in a position of authority has been held to account” over the scandal.
"The prime minister called for nine inquiries in the last parliament. Does he not see that by resisting this one people will start to worry about a cover-up?”, Ms Badenoch said.
Responding, Sir Keir replied: “This is an important issue and we have to focus on the victims and survivors and it is isn’t helpful, this sort of lies and misinformation and slinging of mud doesn’t help them one bit.”
Kemi Badenoch urges Starmer to ‘look again' at Labour definition of Islamophobia
Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir Starmer to “look again at the Labour Party’s adoption of the definition of Islamophobia, its chilling effect, and rule out introducing it in government”.
The PM said he will call out an aspect that has prevented anybody coming forward when it comes to child sexual exploitation.
Analysis: Starmer holds his own against Badenoch on grooming gangs
Sir Keir Starmer faced a barrage of questions from Kemi Badenoch about grooming gangs, and Labour's refusal to launch a new national inquiry into the scandal.
The prime minister held his own, pointing to the Conservatives' own failures in office and the leader of the opposition's lack of credentials on the issue. And he reached across the house to urge Tory MPs to back Labour's key child safety bill, with the party's amendment calling for a grooming gangs investigation threatening to derail the changes.
Sir Keir repeatedly highlighted the many conversations he has had with victims and their fears about delays a further inquiry could cause in delivering changes recommended in a previous report on the scandal.
He also brandished his record as director of public prosecutions, saying that he "took measures to confront this head on" and ushered in the first mass prosecutions for an Asian grooming gang in Rochdale.
But the killer moment for Ms Badenoch was when Sir Keir highlighted her own silence on the issue in her eight years as an MP.
The PM said: "The leader of the opposition has been an MP, I think for eight years, her party had been in government. For seven and a half of those eight years... I can't recall her once raising this issue in the house."
Starmer defends his record on grooming gangs while chief prosecutor
Sir Keir Starmer has issued another defence of his action on grooming gangs while director of public prosecutions.
He told PMQs: “When I was chief prosecutor, I took measures to confront this head-on. The first mass prosecution of an Asian gang was in Rochdale. My team came to see me to put a number of Asian men in the dock. They wanted the green light for the first of these cases to take place.
“I gave that green light but on one condition, because it came to my attention that one of the men that was going into the dock had previously been arrested and not charged.
“And I said ‘you can bring the first of these mass prosecutions, but only if you look back through the file where [he wasn’t] charged and tell me what went wrong, so that I can start to put it right’ – and that’s what started the reforms I brought about.”
He added: “That’s the approach I took in practice while others were tweeting and talking.”
Starmer throws down the gauntlet to Badenoch over grooming gangs
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
Sir Keir Starmer has challenged Kemi Badenoch to defend her record on grooming gangs, claiming that she has not raised the issue once in her eight years as an MP.
In a tense PMQs, the prime minister said: "The leader of the opposition has been an MP, I think for eight years, her party had been in government. For seven and a half of those eight years...
"I can't recall her once raising this issue in the house.
"Only in recent days she's jumped on the bandwagon... if I am wrong about that and she has raised it, then I invite her to say that now."
Ms Badenoch could not challenge Sir Keir over the claim directly, but claimed she had previously raised the issue of grooming gangs in speeches and publicly. "He knows that as a minister, I would not have been speaking on this specific issue," Ms Badenoch added.
Badenoch warns lack of inquiry will fuel ‘cover-up’ claims
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that Sir Keir Starmer’s resistance to an inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal could lead to fears of a “cover-up”.
The Tory leader told PMQs: “The prime minister called for nine inquiries in the last parliament. Does he not see that by resisting this one, people will start to worry about a cover-up?”
He replied: “This sort of lies and misinformation and slinging of mud doesn’t help them one bit.”
Starmer accuses Badenoch of ‘jumping on bandwagon'
Sir Keir Starmer has alleged that, while the Tories may have accepted many of the recommendations of the Jay inquiry into child sexual abuse, the party did not act on them.
Raising Kemi Badenoch’s record as a minister, he said: “I can’t remember her once raising this issue in the House, once calling for a national inquiry. It’s only in recent days she’s jumped on the bandwagon.
“If I’m wrong about that and she has raised it, then I invite her to say that now and I will happily withdraw that remark that she hasn’t raised it in this House in the eight years that she’s been here until today.”
Ms Badenoch said she had previously raised the issue in speeches and publicly.
Starmer says ‘no fixed view’ among survivors on new grooming gangs inquiry
Sir Keir Starmer has said “there is no fixed view” among survivors on calls for a new inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, adding: “What we need now is action.”
He said it was intolerable that MPs could later vote down measures to protect vulnerable children in Labour’s bill.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “shocked” that Sir Keir would claim that the Tories took no action to tackle grooming gangs when in power.
She added: “He knows full well that we accepted 18 of the 20 recommendations in the Jay inquiry and went further, launching a gangs taskforce that found 550 more perpetrators. That shows there is still work to be done.”
“No one has joined the dots. No one has the total picture. And it is almost certainly still going on,” Ms Badenoch said.
Starmer says he met with grooming gangs survivors this morning
Sir Keir Starmer is now up at PMQs.
Asked about calls for a grooming gangs inquiry, he said there have been a number of inquiries - both national and local – and added that “reasonable people can agree or disagree on whether a further inquiry is necessary”.
Sir Keir said he met with survivors this morning and they were clear they want further action now as opposed to a further inquiry.
He said it was “shocking” that any MP would vote against Labour’s children’s safety bill and urged MPs to vote against the Tories “wrecking amendment”.
Nigel Farage questions why Kemi Badenoch did not call for inquiry when women’s minister
As Kemi Badenoch seeks a symbolic vote on holding a new grooming gangs inquiry, Nigel Farage has questioned why she did not do so while in government.
The Reform UK leader wrote on X: “Kemi Badenoch was Minister for Women and Equalities from 2022 to 2024. Why did she not demand a full inquiry then?”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments