The prime minister has attacked politicians and activists “spreading lies and misinformation” over grooming gangs.
It comes after multi-billionaire Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of being “complicit within the rape of Britain” throughout his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) for failing to deal with grooming gangs.
Senior Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have additionally spent the week calling for a nationwide inquiry into youngster sexual exploitation.
However Sir Keir mentioned: “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as large as potential should not taken with victims, they’re taken with themselves.”
He mentioned the web debate had “crossed a line”, leading to threats in opposition to MPs, together with Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips.
Sir Keir went on to accuse the Tories of “leaping on a bandwagon” to realize consideration, saying Conservative MPs have been “amplifying what the far-right is saying” on youngster sexual abuse after failing to behave “for 14 lengthy years”.
Debate round grooming gangs was reignited this week after it was reported that Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historic youngster sexual exploitation within the city, in favour of a locally-led investigation.
The choice was taken in October, however first reported by GB Information on 1 January.
Describing youngster sexual exploitation as “totally sickening”, Sir Keir defended his document in workplace as DPP, saying he tackled the difficulty “head on”.
Whereas DPP, Sir Keir launched a particular prosecutor for youngster abuse and sexual exploitation to supervise convictions in opposition to grooming gangs.
He additionally modified the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) steerage to encourage police to analyze suspects in complicated sexual abuse circumstances and court docket reforms geared toward making the method much less traumatic for victims.
“I modified the system as a result of I may see a number of the issues that have been going flawed,” he advised reporters.
Sir Keir mentioned he reopened circumstances, introduced the primary prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” in Rochdale and referred to as for obligatory reporting of kid sexual abuse.
“After I left workplace, we had the best variety of youngster sexual abuse circumstances being prosecuted on document,” Sir Keir mentioned.
“The victims right here suffered horrible abuse,” he mentioned, “after which they weren’t listened to.”
Phillips had additionally “finished a thousand instances extra” to guard victims of kid sexual abuse than these attacking her can “even dreamt about”, he mentioned.
Sir Keir didn’t identify any of these he thought have been spreading lies within the debate, however his feedback adopted a sequence of questions on interventions by Musk.
Over the previous week, the tech-entrepreneur has attacked the Labour authorities over the difficulty, utilizing his platform on his social media web site X.
Musk accused Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist” and has referred to as for her and Sir Keir to be jailed.
On Monday, Musk began a ballot asking X customers to vote on whether or not “America ought to liberate the folks of Britain from their tyrannical authorities”.
Requested concerning the put up, Sir Keir selected to not reply.
Musk’s push to oust the PM may spark diplomatic hassle for Labour.
Alongside being one of many richest males on this planet, Musk can be a key adviser for US President-elect Donald Trump.
Musk has additionally used his platform to name for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be launched from jail.
Robinson, whose actual identify is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is at present serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of court docket, after admitting he breached an injunction in opposition to repeating claims a couple of Syrian refugee schoolboy.
Sir Keir accused these “cheerleading” Robinson of not being taken with justice and mentioned he wouldn’t tolerate dialogue and debate on lies.
“As soon as we lose the anchor that reality issues, within the strong debate that we will need to have, then we’re on a really slippery slope,” he mentioned.
There have been quite a few investigations into the systematic rape of younger ladies by organised gangs, together with in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
Sir Keir admitted most of the victims had been “let down by perverse concepts about neighborhood relations or by the concept establishments have to be protected above all else they usually haven’t been listened to they usually haven’t been heard.”
An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham discovered 1,400 kids had been sexually abused over a 16-year interval, predominantly by British Pakistani males.
An investigation in Telford discovered that as much as 1,000 women had been abused over 40 years – and that some circumstances had not been investigated due to “nervousness about race”.
The Conservatives and Reform UK have been calling for a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.
Final week Kemi Badenoch, the chief of the Conservatives, mentioned: “Trials have taken place everywhere in the nation lately however nobody in authority has joined the dots. 2025 have to be the yr that the victims begin to get justice.”
However Sir Keir dismissed the calls, claiming Professor Alexis Jay’s Unbiased Inquiry into Baby Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was “complete”.
He argued “there have been a number of critiques together with localised critiques”.
Sir Keir mentioned he agreed that “no stone must be left unturned” to finish youngster sexual abuse however insisted that “motion” is required now, not one other assessment.
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, 2025-01-06 12:36:00
