Gloucester’s MP voted to reject Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
The Government’s draft child protection legislation passed its first Commons hurdle earlier today following a bitter PMQs in which Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said failing to back a probe would fuel concerns about a “cover-up”.
The Conservatives had tabled the motion to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill demanding a new national inquiry into gangs which, if approved, would have prevented the legislation from making progress.
Even if the amendment had passed the government would not have been required to hold the inquiry.
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MPs vote in Parliament
Gloucester’s Labour MP Alex McIntyre was among all Labour MPs to vote against the bill.
North Cotswold Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown voted for an inquiry while No Vote was recorded for Cheltenham Lib Dem MP Max Wilkinson.
Sir Keir Starmer says he’s spoken with victims and says they want ‘actions’ not further delays.
The PM told MPs that a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse.
Girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns in England – including Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford – over a decade ago in a national scandal that was exposed in 2013.