British lawmakers voted in opposition to launching a nationwide inquiry into the U.Ok. grooming gang scandal on Wednesday, after objections to the way in which the vote was being put ahead – and amid worldwide scrutiny of the disaster spearheaded by Elon Musk.
The Home of Commons voted on an modification to carry a statutory inquiry into the scandal – the place it was revealed that males of predominantly Pakistani heritage had sexually abused women for years in cities in northern England.
The measure was an modification to a youngsters’s well-being and faculties invoice backed by the Labour authorities. U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned {that a} vote in favor of the modification would kill the general invoice to which it was connected. The modification was voted down by 364 votes to 111 within the Labour-controlled chamber, Sky Information reported.
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“What we’d like now’s motion. What cannot be tolerated is the concept this afternoon members reverse will vote down a invoice which protects youngsters,” Starmer mentioned forward of the vote, calling it a “wrecking modification.”
Conservative Get together Chief Kemi Badenoch pushed again.
“Be a pacesetter, not a lawyer,” she informed him, as she mentioned {that a} new inquiry ought to examine the linked points between the cities.
“The rationale why a nationwide inquiry is vital is as a result of this difficulty is systemic,” she mentioned, involving “native and nationwide officers, the police, prosecutors and politicians.”
“These interlinked points can’t be coated by native inquiries alone,” she mentioned.
Previous reports had discovered proof of “appalling” abuse, with greater than 1,400 women abused between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham alone. Reviews additionally discovered that authorities had been frightened of fueling racism of their dealing with of the crimes given the ethnic make-up of the perpetrators. The scandal tapped into brewing issues about multiculturalism and mass immigration.
The difficulty got here again to the highlight lately after native officers in Oldham referred to as on the federal government to launch a nationwide inquiry into the city’s dealing with of the disaster. A 2022 report had discovered that youngsters had been failed by officers, however had discovered no cover-up regardless of issues that it might be capitalized on by right-wing activists.
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The U.Ok. authorities rejected the request, saying that any inquiry ought to be organized domestically. That, in flip, drew calls from Badenoch and Elon Musk for a nationwide inquiry.
“Throughout the nation, hundreds of ladies had been tortured and sexually abused by the hands of males who handled them as issues for use and disposed of, destroying many lives endlessly. The prime minister has talked about earlier inquiries. He’s proper, there was an inquiry into baby sexual abuse. However it wasn’t concerning the rape gang scandal,” Badenoch mentioned.
Musk, who has been hammering away on the difficulty on X – even calling for the prosecution of prime U.Ok. authorities officers, together with Starmer – appealed once more to the British public earlier than the vote.
“Please name your member of parliament and inform them that the tons of of hundreds of little women in Britain who had been, and are nonetheless are, being systematically, horrifically gang-raped deserve some justice on this world,” Musk mentioned on X on Wednesday.
“That is vitally vital, or it would simply hold taking place,” he mentioned.
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Starmer had beforehand slammed “lies and misinformation” with out naming Musk immediately, and had accused U.Ok. politicians of leaping on a “bandwagon of the far-right.”
On Wednesday, he once more accused Badenoch of leaping on a bandwagon and urged lawmakers to verify the broader invoice handed.
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“One of many provisions within the invoice is to guard youngsters susceptible at the moment who’re out of faculty to stop abuses ever taking these youngsters out of faculty. I implore members reverse to defy the deceptive management of the Chief of the Opposition and vote for a very vital invoice.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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