Keir Starmer skips grooming gang vote despite ordering his MPs to vote against it
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Downing Street insisted the prime minister had a ‘pre-existing diary commitment’. Keir Starmer and members of his Cabinet failed to vote on an amendment calling for the government to set up a national inquiry into grooming gangs, despite ordering his MPs to vote against it.
![[Kemi Badenoch led the Tory amendment on grooming gangs]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/08/16/House-of-Commons_250108_PMQs_NP-08_50514.jpg)
Sir Keir was one of nine cabinet ministers who failed to turn up to vote, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, chancellor Rachel Reeves and health secretary Wes Streeting. While Downing Street insisted the prime minister had a “pre-existing diary commitment”, it is unusual for such a significant number of senior members of the government to miss an important vote.
![[Elon Musk has repeatedly criticised Starmer over grooming gangs]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/08/20/2025-01-06T132533Z_742615906_RC2CL7AELKF2_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-POLITICS-MUSK.jpg)
When asked why they were all absent, the prime minister’s spokesperson said: “Whipping issues and votes are one for the whips office, but this government is completely focussed on passing this bill and it passed with a clear majority.”. It comes just one day after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch issued a warning to the prime minister over forcing his MPs to vote against an inquiry into “one of the worst scandals in British history”.
“Later today, he will tell Labour MPs, including those representing Telford, Rochdale, Bristol, Derby, Aylesbury, Oldham, Bradford, Peterborough, Coventry, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Ramsgate, to vote against a national inquiry into the gangs that have systematically gang-raped children in their constituencies.
