Rachel Reeves Clashes With Trevor Phillips Over Labour's Grooming Gangs U-Turn
Rachel Reeves clashed with Trevor Phillips after the government U-turned on its opposition to a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
Keir Starmer has previously accused opposition politicians calling for one of jumping on a 'bandwagon of the far-right'.
But he announced on Saturday that he supports the recommendations of an independent report into child sexual exploitation by Baroness Louise Casey, which is being published next week.
It is expected to call for a judge-led inquiry into the grooming and sexual abuse of young girls across the country, mainly by groups of men of Pakistani origin.
On Sky News this morning, Phillips asked Reeves whether those who had been dismissed for raising the issue were due an apology from the government.
As the chancellor tried to say the 'most important thing' was getting justice for the victims of the grooming gangs, Phillips told her: 'No, what I've asked you is the most important thing.'
Reeves then hit back: 'No no no. Trevor, what is the most important thing here? It is the victims and it's not people's hurt feelings about how they've been spoken about.
'The most important thing here is the victims of these evil crimes.'
Undeterred, Phillips said: 'The reason this matters is because those people who raised these matters on behalf of victims, who cannot often speak for themselves, were accused by government ministers of 'total nonsense, misinformation and racism'. Surely that's important as well?'
Reeves replied: 'The most important thing is the victims themselves, and we have been busy as a government implementing the 200 or so recommendations of the previous inquiry.'
'The most important thing is not people's hurt feelings about how they've been spoken about'@TrevorPTweets presses Chancellor @RachelReevesMP on whether the government was wrong to dismiss calls for a grooming gang inquiry as misinformation.#TrevorPhillips📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/qUCGgVkpqu
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 15, 2025
Keir Starmer Performs Major U-Turn As He Backs National Inquiry Into Groomings Gangs
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