Angela Rayner fends off demands for apology over Keir Starmer’s ‘far-Right bandwagon’ swipe at grooming gang campaigners… after the premier ‘delayed exit from G7 in Canada’ to dodge PMQs grilling
Angela Rayner fended off demands for an apology over Keir Starmer‘s ‘far-Right bandwagon’ swipe at grooming gang campaigners today.
Ms Rayner was filling in at PMQs in the absence of Sir Keir – who has been accused of delaying his departure from the G7 summit in Canada to dodge the grilling.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the premier should say sorry for ‘smearing’ those who called for a national inquiry, before eventually admitting himself that one was needed.
But the Deputy PM insisted Sir Keir had been talking ‘specifically about Tory ministers who sat for years in the government and did absolutely nothing about this scandal’.
The bombshell report by Baroness Casey condemning institutions for ignoring ethnic factors in sexual abuse of children dominated the clashes in the House.
Sir Keir chose to announced his extraordinary U-turn to back a statutory national inquiry into the scandal as he left the UK on Saturday.
The PM had spent months resisting demands from Opposition politicians and campaigners to trigger a new probe.
But he shifted his position after reading the damning conclusions of Lady Casey’s rapid review. Sir Keir was in Alberta when Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made an apology to victims on behalf of the state, and published the Whitehall troubleshooter’s report.
Although he has faced questions from the media at the G7 – which has been dominated by the Israel-Iran crisis – Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir ‘should have been in the chamber this week talking about this issue’.
Angela Rayner was filling in at PMQs in the absence of Keir Starmer – who has been accused of delaying his departure from the G7 summit in Canada to dodge the grilling
The G7 gathering of world leaders in Canada wrapped up last night, but Sir Keir was not at the weekly PMQs session this lunchtime
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the premier should say sorry for ‘smearing’ those who called for a national inquiry, before eventually admitting himself that one was needed
Although he has faced questions from the media at the G7 – which has been dominated by the Israel-Iran crisis – Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir ‘should have been in the chamber this week talking about this issue’
‘He’s taking his time in Canada, he’s not coming back to PMQs… because he doesn’t want to be asked about this,’ she told the Telegraph.
The gathering of world leaders in Canada wrapped up last night, but the premier did not set off for the UK until this morning.
Mr Philp was deputising for Ms Badenoch in keeping with the convention that she only takes on the PM.
Ms Rayner chaired Cabinet yesterday, the first time she has been handed the responsibility since Labour took over the government.
She is expected to take on shadow home secretary Chris Philp in the Commons later.
Sir Keir had meetings including with Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at the G7 last night.
Lady Casey’s long-awaited review was published on Monday, finding that councils, police forces and the Home Office repeatedly ‘shied away’ from dealing with ‘uncomfortable’ questions about the ethnicity of rapists preying on thousands of vulnerable girls.
Despite years of warnings, she said, the quality of data collected at a national level remained ‘woeful and a dereliction of public duty’.
With ethnicity still recorded in only a third of cases, the former civil servant said it was impossible to be certain about patterns of offending at a national level.
She revealed she had found the word ‘Pakistani’ Tippexed out of a child sex abuse file.
But Lady Casey said turning a blind eye to many offenders having Asian heritage only gave racists ‘more ammunition’.
Sir Keir had meetings including with Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at the G7 last night
Baroness Casey vented fury at the failure to tackle the issues over a decade, saying she was ‘raging’ on behalf of the victims
