Grooming gangs scandal being weaponised, No10 says

Telegraph

06-05-2025

The grooming gangs scandal is being weaponised, Downing Street has claimed, after a Labour minister was forced to apologise for her comments on the issue.
Lucy Powell, the Leader of the House of Commons, apologised on Saturday after she accused a Reform commentator of engaging in dog whistle politics simply by speaking about rape gangs.
But on Monday, No10 reignited the row by stating that it was 'disappointing' that some people were weaponising the issue of historic child sex abuse and were using it to make 'political points'.
Asked if Sir Keir Starmer shared Ms Powell's view that rape gangs were being 'weaponised', the spokesman said: 'It's obviously disappointing for people to do so.
'But the Prime Minister is focused on taking the action that is needed to deliver for victims rather than on political point scoring.'
Asked who was sharing political points, the spokesman said: 'I think any political point scoring on an issue such as this is disappointing. The Government is focused on taking action to deliver justice for victims.'
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said it was not 'weaponising' to speak out for rape gang victims.
Mr Philp said: 'Pathetic from Starmer and No 10. Speaking out for rape gang victims and against the cover-up that followed is not 'a far right bandwagon', not a 'dog whistle', not 'weaponising' anything.
'They should deal with the issue and hold a proper national statutory public inquiry.'
Marlon West, the father of a grooming gang survivor, told The Telegraph: 'I don't believe it's so much about scoring political points. It's because he's not acting on demands for a public inquiry that other parties are challenging.
'I speak to so many survivors and families. We really don't think this is 'weaponising'. They're refusing a public inquiry, and I disagree that it's being used to score political points.
'We just want a statutory public inquiry into grooming, which he's stalling on. The other thing that concerns me is that Dame Louise Casey should have brought the figures to us by now for grooming across the nation. I believe they're stalling on this issue.'
Mr West's daughter Scarlett, a 20-year-old grooming survivor from Greater Manchester, was one of five victims who appeared in a hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary on the issue, which aired last week.
On Friday night, Ms Powell described grooming gangs as a 'dog whistle' issue during a debate on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions.
It came after commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie asked her if she had seen the Channel 4 documentary.
On Saturday, the minister put out a statement to say she regarded child exploitation and grooming with the 'utmost seriousness', adding: 'I'm sorry if this was unclear.'
Ms Powell said: 'I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself. As a constituency MP, I've dealt with horrendous cases.'
On Sunday, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said politicians sometimes say things 'in the heat of debate' that 'come across badly'.
'She's mortified and she does not want and would not want people who've campaigned on, or been victims of, these most appalling crimes to think she was in any way trying to undermine those experiences or those arguments,' he said.