Survivors’ voices take centre stage as Keir Starmer faces tough questions in the Commons.
Today’s Prime Minister’s Questions were dominated by fierce exchanges over the government’s handling of the national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch opened by citing the testimony of Fiona, an abuse survivor who resigned from the inquiry panel earlier this week. She asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer:
“What’s the point of victims speaking up if we are just going to be called liars?”
Starmer insisted the inquiry “will not be diluted” and promised it would address cultural and religious factors. He also confirmed that Baroness Louise Casey has been brought in to assist with the review.
Badenoch, however, pressed harder, quoting further survivors who accused the government of creating a “toxic environment” and named Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips as a key source of mistrust.
When asked if he still had confidence in Phillips, Starmer defended her, saying she has “more experience than anyone else in this House in tackling violence against women and girls.”
Badenoch hit back:
“She doesn’t have more experience than the survivors.”
The heated debate follows the resignation of four abuse survivors from the grooming gangs inquiry panel earlier this week. They cited delays in appointing an impartial chair and accused the government of watering down the inquiry’s scope.
“Jessica” – not her real name – is one of the four people we know has quit a panel assisting the inquiry. She says she decided to withdraw yesterday “after seeing the direction the inquiry was taking”.
She describes her disappointment by what she sees as the inquiry taking a “broader focus”, adding that the issue of grooming gangs “deserves to stand alone and be addressed with the seriousness it warrants”.
A chairperson is yet to be selected for the eventual inquiry, but Jessica expresses her concerns that “it felt like history repeating itself” when she learnt two candidates had connections with “the very authorities that failed us”.
“Carly” – again, not her real name – explains that she wants to remain engaged in the process as “the most effective way to drive meaningful change is from within”.
“I remain hopeful that the government has taken seriously the concerns raised by fellow survivors who have stepped away,” she says.
Jess Phillips has denied claims of a cover-up, promising the appointment of a chair who will “earn the trust of survivors.”
Elsewhere in the session, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey shifted focus to Brexit, accusing the government of using it as a “smokescreen for tax rises” and calling for a new EU-UK customs deal…again!
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