The focus on Britain’s grooming gang scandal is very much here to stay. Calls for the government to hold a national inquiry into the matter are intensifying and the Labour government is coming under increasing pressure from opposition politicians in the wake of Elon Musk’s rather heated social media posts on the issue.
Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones was sent out by Labour on the morning round today, with the MP was quizzed on multiple programmes about the need for another probe. On Sky News, host Wilfred Frost asked Davies-Jones about the Conservative party’s attempts to force a vote on whether there should be a full national inquiry into the sex abuse scandal – and whether she would back it. ‘I won’t vote for it,’ the Victims Minister replied, going on:
We’ve already had a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation and abuse. The Professor Alexis Jay inquiry conducted extensive investigation, over 7,000 brave victims and survivors gave their testimony to that. It is for them that we need to deliver justice and we need to get on with the job of delivering for them, working at pace to deliver those recommendations that the previous government failed to do. That’s what they deserved: we need action and less words.
Wilfred Frost: The Tories want to force a vote on whether there should be a full national statutory inquiry into the grooming scandal… how will you vote?
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) January 7, 2025
Alex Davies-Jones: "I won't vote for it, because we've already had a national inquiry… we need action & less words.." pic.twitter.com/ad2Y5vI16l
While shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick also came under pressure this morning – quizzed about why the previous Conservative government had not conducted a national inquiry into the grooming gangs – it transpires that Reform leader Nigel Farage has been busy making some statements of his own.
Speaking to LBC, Farage says his party will fundraise for a new inquiry into grooming gangs with ‘independent former judges’ if Sir Keir Starmer’s government doesn’t agree to one. Expressing the same sentiment on Twitter, he noted :’If the Labour government won’t hold a full public inquiry into the widespread mass rape scandal then we at Reform UK will. Raising the money won’t be a problem.’ How curious.
Might Musk step in to Reform’s aid? There were questions raised at the weekend about whether Twitter CEO Musk would still bankroll the party after he called for Farage to step down – but in the last 24 hours it seems the tech billionaire has rowed back a little on his stance and has returned to reposting Farage’s tweets. All’s well that ends well, eh?
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