UK

Conservatives to seek support for new child grooming inquiry in symbolic vote

Home Office minister Jess Phillips has meanwhile said she faced increased risk to her safety since Elon Musk called her a ‘rape genocide apologist’.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, whose party is pushing for a symbolic vote on a new child sexual abuse inquiry
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, whose party is pushing for a symbolic vote on a new child sexual abuse inquiry (Lucy North/PA)

The Conservatives will seek to garner support for a new nationwide child grooming investigation with a symbolic vote in the Commons, amid an ongoing spat between ministers and billionaire Elon Musk.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has faced a slew of attacks from X and Tesla owner Mr Musk in recent days, after Home Office minister Jess Phillips declined a request for a nationally led inquiry in Oldham.

Ms Phillips said she faced an increased risk to her safety since Mr Musk called her a “rape genocide apologist”, and the Prime Minister has signalled the businessman crossed a line with his criticism and was spreading misinformation.

Home Office minister Jess Phillips has said Elon Musk knows ‘absolutely nothing’ about the issue of child sexual abuse
Home Office minister Jess Phillips has said Elon Musk knows ‘absolutely nothing’ about the issue of child sexual abuse (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

The Tories have joined calls by Mr Musk for a new UK-wide inquiry into child sexual abuse, despite a wide-ranging independent probe having concluded its work in 2022.

On Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch’s party will bring forward an amendment to the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is expected to call for ministers to establish a “national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.

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Shadow education minister Neil O’Brien claimed the Government was “blocking a full national inquiry”, adding: “This cannot stand, so the Conservatives have tabled an amendment to their Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to call for an inquiry.

“Labour MPs now have a first chance to vote to give victims answers and justice, and pass an amendment that will make clear that the will of Parliament is for a national inquiry.

“But if they fail to do so, the Conservatives will not back down, and will continue to amend the Bill at every opportunity.”

The amendment is unlikely to be supported by a majority in the Commons, as the Government wants to roll out the recommendations of the investigation led by Professor Alexis Jay rather than open a new inquiry.

The non-binding amendment could not compel ministers to launch an inquiry and merely gives MPs a chance to voice their opinion on the issue.

It also calls for the Commons to halt the progress of the Bill, which includes measures aimed at bolstering safeguarding for children.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has previously described the Bill as a “seminal moment for child protection”, as it will see parents no longer having an automatic right to take their children out of school for home education if the young person is subject to a child protection investigation or suspected of being at risk of significant harm.

Sara Sharif, 10, was pulled out of school just months before she was murdered by her father and stepmother.

Home schooling allowed her abuse to carry on “beyond the gaze of the authorities”, the judge sentencing her killers warned in December.

A Labour spokesperson claimed the Conservatives were “attempting to block this Government’s plans to keep the most at-risk children in our country safe from harm”.

“On Wednesday, Conservative MPs have a choice to back our measures to protect children from grooming, exploitation and abuse, instead of playing politics with the safety of vulnerable children,” they added.

Amid the ongoing row between the Government and Mr Musk, Home Office minister Ms Phillips indicated she now had extra protection in place for her safety and suggested her world had been turned upside down following his comments.

“The thing that annoys me the most about it is it takes up so much bandwidth of my time from a man who knows absolutely nothing about the subject he’s talking about,” she added.

Head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Professor Alexis Jay
Head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Professor Alexis Jay (Colin Whyman/Independent Inquiry/PA)

Professor Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has said “the time has passed” for another lengthy examination of grooming gangs and claimed the spat between ministers and Mr Musk is “distracting from the issues”.

She, however, acknowledged that plans for new legislation announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had happened quicker than they might otherwise have done.

On Monday, Ms Cooper said the Government would begin to implement Professor Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.