A grooming gang victim has accused Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips of "calling me a liar" after she claimed that the Labour MP dismissed her comments in the House of Commons.
Speaking to GB News, Fiona Goddard said she was left "shocked and hurt" after Ms Phillips branded her statements about the Government’s grooming gangs inquiry "categorically untrue" yesterday.
The victim resigned from the Home Office’s Survivor Liaison Panel in protest over how the inquiry was being handled earlier this week, and Jess Phillips faced an urgent questioning in the Commons as a result.
Ms Goddard told The People's Channel: "So, in my resignation letter, I made public the attempts to widen the scope of the inquiry, how it would be conducted and extended from localities to regions.
Fiona Goddard accused Jess Phillips of 'calling me a liar'
|GB NEWS
"She said that those claims were 'categorically untrue', even though she was aware of them because of the personal texts I sent to her outlining what we were being asked.
"Her response back to me was that she knew the question was being asked, but she couldn’t make the decision without it being consulted on.
"So she called me a liar while she knew the truth."
The whistleblower is now calling for Ms Phillips to resign, saying her position as Safeguarding Minister is "untenable" after publicly discrediting a survivor.
She explained: "For me, it’s the complete lack of recognition that the Safeguarding Minister publicly called me a liar today. There’s no apology, no recognition.
"This woman is supposed to represent women’s and children’s safety, and she has nationally called a grooming gang victim a liar, knowing that I’m not a liar either.
Jess Phillips faced a grilling over the inquiry | HOUSE OF COMMONS
"I have the emails and the texts. I think, for me to take anything seriously that any Government official has to say, there needs to be an apology for what I’ve been put through today."
She said: "I do think Jess Phillips needs to resign. I think the only logical move forward from this point is her resignation.
"How can she represent women’s and children’s best interests if she would rather try to discredit a survivor, knowing that survivor has been truthful, than take some responsibility herself?"
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Ms Phillips said: "Suggesting that the Government has silenced anybody is incorrect.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
"The Government has not handled this process it has been managed by a grooming gang charity, as he himself cited, which represents victims of crime."
She said not all victims shared the same views, warning against portraying survivors as a "homogenous group".
"They are not one group of people who all think the same thing, who all want the same exposure, or who all want their identities known," she told MPs.
The Minister confirmed she has spoken "many times" with Ms Goddard and would continue that relationship "should she wish".
Ms Phillips added that she would meet with "many victims" to hear their feedback and continue to engage with all survivors "regardless of their opinions".
"I will always listen," she said, "whether they have spoken to the media or sit on advisory panels".
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter