British Members of Parliament voted down an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that sought to mandate a statutory national inquiry into grooming gangs. The amendment, proposed by Conservative MPs, was defeated by a margin of 364 votes to 111.
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The proposed amendment aimed to address ongoing concerns surrounding grooming gang operations across the UK, but its rejection highlights deep political divisions over the best approach to tackle the issue.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, speaking earlier during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), argued against the amendment, describing it as a “wrecking proposal”. He urged the government to focus instead on implementing the recommendations from the 2022 report on grooming gangs rather than initiating another inquiry, which he said could cause unnecessary delays.
Starmer emphasized that victims of grooming gangs, whom he had spoken to earlier in the day, expressed a strong desire for immediate action rather than prolonged bureaucratic processes.
While the amendment’s failure does not rule out future investigations, its rejection ensures the primary focus of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill remains on early years education reforms.
However, even had the Commons supported the measure, it wouldn’t have actually forced the government to open the desired inquiry, due to parliamentary procedure.
Instead, it would have killed the government’s legislation, the aim of which is to reform things like the children’s care system and raise educational standards in schools.
Tonight’s vote was largely symbolic – aimed at putting pressure on Labour following days of headlines after comments by Elon Musk brought grooming gangs back into the spotlight.
The world’s richest man has hit out at Sir Keir Starmer and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, after she rejected a new national inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, saying this should be done at a local level instead.
The Tories also previously said an Oldham inquiry should be done locally and in 2015 commissioned a seven-year national inquiry into child sex abuse which looked at grooming gangs.
However, they didn’t implement any of its recommendations while in office – and Sir Keir has vowed to do so instead of launching a fresh investigation into the subject.
As well as the 2015 national inquiry, by Prof Alexis Jay, a number of local inquiries were also carried out, including in Telford and Rotherham.
Ahead of the vote, Sir Keir Starmer accused Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch of “jumping on the bandwagon” after Mr Musk’s intervention and spreading “lies and misinformation”.
Referring to her time in government as children’s and equalities minister, the prime minister said: “I can’t recall her once raising this issue in the House, once calling for a national inquiry.”
He also said having spoken to victims of grooming gangs this morning, “they were clear they want action now, not the delay of a further inquiry”.
Ms Badenoch has argued that the public will start to “worry about a cover-up” if the prime minister resists calls for a national inquiry, and said no one has yet “joined up the dots” on grooming.
Girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns in England – including Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford – over a decade ago in a national scandal that was exposed in 2013.
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