Labour MP joins calls for national inquiry into grooming gangs
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Dan Carden says government must heed calls for justice and show ‘whose side it on’. A Labour MP has become the first to break ranks and publicly call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs and has urged the prime minister to “use the full power of the state to deliver justice”.
Keir Starmer and other ministers have suggested they are open-minded about a future inquiry but have said the government’s priority is acting on the recommendations of the 2022 report on child sexual abuse led by Prof Alexis Jay. Dan Carden, who represents Liverpool Walton, told the Liverpool Echo: “The public compassion for the victims, thousands of young British working-class girls and children is real. The public call for justice must be heeded.
“It is shocking that people in positions of power could have covered up and refused to act to avoid confronting racial or cultural issues or because victims were poor and working-class. “We must question and challenge the orthodoxy of progressive liberal multiculturalism that led to authorities failing to act. We need a new doctrine to take our multi-ethnic society into the future.”.
The Conservatives used an attempt to block the government’s children’s wellbeing and schools bill on Wednesday to force a vote on calls for a new inquiry, although Carden did not record a vote. Carden said: “Both Keir Starmer and [safeguarding minister] Jess Phillips have strong records in this area and yet the government has failed to take the high ground.
