Minister accuses Tories of being 'bandwagon jumpers who don't care about children' over grooming gangs inquiry calls
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Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has accused the Conservatives of being "bandwagon jumpers" who "don't care about children" as they try to force a national grooming gangs inquiry. The Tories have tabled an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, being debated on Wednesday, to require a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips rejected calls for one.
Passing the amendment would not necessarily force the government to launch an inquiry, but could mean the entire bill - aimed at improving the safeguarding of children - fails to get through parliament. Politics latest: Tories told to 'put up or shut up'.
Ms Phillipson told Sky News' Wilfred Frost the Conservative government did not implement any of the recommendations that came out of an eight-year national inquiry into grooming gangs published in 2022. The education secretary said: "The measures that I'm setting out today and the legislation in many ways go further because it puts a requirement on all councils to have teams working to keep children safe.
"And the bandwagon jumpers that have come along in recent days, they don't care about children, they don't care about making sure that we stop this and we take action. "They had years to do it and they didn't do it.". Read more:Grooming gangs scandal timelineWhy the Tories' attempts to force inquiry won't work.
