The top minister has attacked politicians and activists “spreading lies and incorrect information” over grooming gangs.
It comes after multi-billionaire Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of being “complicit within the rape of Britain” right through his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) for failing to take on grooming gangs.
Along Musk’s feedback, senior Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have additionally spent the week calling for a countrywide inquiry into kid sexual exploitation.
However Sir Keir accused opposition MPs of “leaping on a bandwagon” and “amplifying what the far-right is pronouncing” to achieve consideration.
Sir Keir mentioned Labour was once addressing kid sexual abuse after Conservatives inactiveness “for 14 lengthy years”.
On-line debate round grooming gangs had now “crossed a line”, leading to threats in opposition to MPs, together with Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, he mentioned.
“We’ve noticed this playbook again and again – whipping up of intimidation and of threats of violence, hoping that the media will enlarge it,” Sir Keir mentioned.
“Those that are spreading lies and incorrect information as a ways and as vast as conceivable don’t seem to be involved in sufferers, they are involved in themselves,” he added.
Debate round grooming gangs was once reignited this week after it was once reported that Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into ancient kid sexual exploitation within the the city, in favour of a locally-led investigation.
The verdict was once taken in October, however first reported by means of GB Information on 1 January.
Describing kid sexual exploitation as “completely sickening”, Sir Keir defended his document in workplace as DPP, pronouncing he tackled the problem “head on”.
“I modified the device as a result of I may just see one of the most issues that have been going mistaken,” he advised journalists.
Whilst DPP, Sir Keir presented a unique prosecutor for kid abuse and sexual exploitation to supervise convictions; modified the Crown Prosecution Carrier (CPS) steering to inspire police to analyze suspects in advanced sexual abuse instances and taken in court docket reforms geared toward making the method much less demanding for sufferers.
Sir Keir mentioned he additionally reopened instances, introduced the primary prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” in Rochdale and referred to as for necessary reporting of kid sexual abuse.
“After I left workplace, we had the perfect collection of kid sexual abuse instances being prosecuted on document,” Sir Keir mentioned.
“The sufferers right here suffered horrible abuse,” he mentioned, “after which they were not listened to.”
Phillips had additionally “performed one thousand occasions extra” to offer protection to sufferers of kid sexual abuse than the ones attacking her can “even dreamt about”, he mentioned.
ReutersJournalists have been briefed Sir Keir deliberate a daring defence of his document and his authorities – and his feedback have been probably the most impassioned he has been in his time as top minister.
Sir Keir didn’t title any of the ones he idea have been spreading lies within the debate, however his feedback adopted a sequence of questions on interventions by means of Musk.
During the last week, the tech-entrepreneur has attacked the Labour authorities over grooming gangs – the usage of his platform on his social media web site X to accuse Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist”, and calling for her and Sir Keir to be jailed.
Musk’s push to oust the PM may just spark diplomatic hassle for Labour.
Along being some of the richest males on the earth, Musk could also be a key adviser for US President-elect Donald Trump.
‘Insane factor to mention’
Musk replied to Sir Keir’s feedback, calling him “completely despicable”.
In a sequence of posts on social media, Musk persevered to assault Labour figures and the top minister by means of title.
He additionally condemned what he noticed as Sir Keir’s description of calls for for a countrywide inquiry into grooming gangs as far-right activism – calling it “an insane factor to mention”.
Musk has referred to as for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be launched from prison.
Robinson, whose actual title is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is recently serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of court docket, after admitting he breached an injunction in opposition to repeating claims a few Syrian refugee schoolboy.
Sir Keir accused the ones “cheerleading” Robinson of now not being involved in justice and mentioned he would now not tolerate dialogue and debate on lies.
“When we lose the anchor that reality issues, within the powerful debate that we will have to have, then we are on an overly slippery slope,” he mentioned.
The Conservatives attacked Sir Keir for “smearing people who find themselves thinking about rape gangs as leaping on a ‘far-right’ bandwagon”.
Shadow house secretary Chris Philp referred to as the top minister’s feedback “disgraceful”.
Philp mentioned Sir Keir had proven “how out of contact he truly is” by means of now not figuring out why individuals are hard a countrywide inquiry.
The Liberal Democrats instructed the federal government to “summon the United States ambassador” to deal with Musk’s feedback, given his position within the subsequent White Area management.
Lib Dem chief Sir Ed Davey mentioned: “Other people have had sufficient of Elon Musk interfering with our nation’s democracy when he obviously is aware of not anything about Britain.”
There were a large number of investigations into the systematic rape of younger women by means of organised gangs, together with in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
Sir Keir admitted lots of the sufferers have been “let down by means of perverse concepts about group members of the family or by means of the concept that establishments will have to be safe above all else and they have got now not been listened to and they have got now not been heard.”
A Rotherham inquiry exposed the sexual abuse of one,400 youngsters over 16 years, principally by means of British Pakistani males.
In Telford, as much as 1,000 ladies confronted abuse over 40 years, with some instances overpassed because of “anxiousness about race” as maximum suspects have been males of south Asian heritage.
The Conservatives and Reform UK were calling for a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.
Final week Kemi Badenoch, the chief of the Conservatives, mentioned: “Trials have taken position in every single place the rustic lately however nobody in authority has joined the dots. 2025 will have to be the 12 months that the sufferers begin to get justice.”
However Sir Keir disregarded the calls, claiming Professor Alexis Jay’s Unbiased Inquiry into Kid Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was once “complete”.
Whilst he agreed that “no stone must be left unturned” to finish kid sexual abuse, Sir Keir insisted that “motion” is now wanted, now not some other evaluate.
