Simon Danczuk, former Labour MP, claims Home Office Minister Jess Phillips’ reputation is in tatters over the government’s response to grooming gangs.
Labour’s rejection of a national inquiry into grooming gangs has been met with widespread criticism, as it was announced just one hour before the Government paused for Easter recess.
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips announced they were adopting a more “flexible” approach to local grooming gang inquiries instead, on an “opt-in” basis.
Phillips is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls and has been a vocal campaigner for female safety since her election ten years ago.
Simon Danczuk hit out at the minister
GB NEWS / PA
Speaking on Good Afternoon Britain, Simon Danczuk, who was the MP in Rochdale when its grooming scandal broke in 2012, stated that Labour’s response is the latest in a series of self-preservation moves.
He claims that when the Rochdale scandal first broke, fellow Labour politicians explicitly told him “don’t mention the ethnicity of the perpetrators” because they thought it could cost them votes.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Simon Danczuk joined Tom Harwood and Emily Carver on GB News
GB NEWS
“This is a classic political fudge - they don’t want to address this issue.” The former MP says previous scandals happened in many local Labour authorities and “they’re concerned it will have an impact on them as a political party” if their full extend was revealed in an inquiry.
Having seen the impact of the grooming gang scandal in his own constituency, Danczuk slammed the behaviour of his former party, warning it’s the “biggest criminal justice scandal of our time.”
Speaking out against Jess Phillips, he condemned her stance and believes her long-standing reputation as a champion for female safety is in tatters.
“She built a name defending women’s rights", he said.
"Now as a Home Office minister she’s effectively defending Pakistani rapist rights. That cannot be right.”
In a right of response, Labour have said they are ‘taking decisive action to finally tackle grooming gangs’ with £5 million pledged to support local inquiries.
Jess Phillips has been accused of letting down victims of grooming gangs by refusing a full national inquiry into the scandal.Getty ImagesThe former Rochdale MP criticised that this would not be enough. “The policy is wholly inadequate - there isn’t enough money in there.
The idea that local authorities would be the organisations to investigate this issue is complete nonsense.”
He argued that the “opt-in” and “flexible” approach proposed by Labour relies too heavily on local authorities investigating themselves and that it is nowhere near enough to address the state of grooming gangs in the country. Both the Reform and Conservative parties have called for a national inquiring into UK grooming gangs.
Written by Heather Magowan
