Labour minister Lucy Powell has issued an apology for her controversial comments on the grooming gangs scandal which sparked uproar last week.
The Commons leader spoke to MPs after referring to the national scandal as a “little trumpet” and a “dog whistle” issue during a heated debate on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions?
The Labour Government is under intense pressure over the handling of historical sex abuse cases in the UK and has so far resisted calls to launch a national inquiry.
“I can be absolutely clear with the House today, especially to the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and grooming gangs that I am very sorry for the remarks I made over the weekend”, Powell said in the Commons.
Lucy Powell apologised to MPs and victims of the rape gangs scandal
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“I and every member of this Government want your truth to be heard, wherever that truth leads. Your truly appalling experiences need to be acted on and those responsible need to be held accountable and face the full force of the law and justice to be served.
“I would never want to leave the impression that these very serious, profound and far-reaching issues which I have campaigned on for many years should be shied away from and not aired. Far from it.
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“No stone will be left unturned. What the victims want first and foremost is for action to be taken and the many recommendations from previous inquiries to be implemented in full, including mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse - something I have called for for nearly a decade.
“Shockingly, these recommendations remained sitting on the shelf until we came into Government last year.”
The controversy centres around a moment in last Friday’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions.
Political commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie had started to ask a question and cited a Channel 4 documentary about the scandal to illustrate his point.
Lucy Powell used her speech in Parliament to take a swipe at the Tories
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He was shouted down by Powell, who is MP for Manchester Central, who responded: “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Yeah, OK, let’s get that dog whistle out.”
Powell has apologised since and her Cabinet colleague Wes Streeting told GB News she was “mortified” by her own choice of words.
The Health Secretary went on to defend her, saying often regrettable comments are made in the “heat of debate”.
Her apology follows calls to resign from the Conservative Party.
We have compiled a comprehensive timeline of the grooming gang abuses Getty ImagesShadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded her comments a “shocking outburst” which “belittles the thousands of girls and women who were raped by grooming gangs over decades”.
Earlier this week, GB News’s Charlie Peters partnered with researchers from Crime Spotlight to produce the first full national dossier of the grooming gangs scandal.
The People’s Channel uncovered thousands of miles of national trafficking networks.
The shocking extent of grooming gang networks operating in Britain was revealed with dozens of reports of children being trafficked for abuse to towns and cities across the country.
In one case, jailed abuser Arshid Hussain dragged a survivor in the boot of his car and drove to London from Rotherham where she was used to pay off his debts to three men.
The exposé also revealed just 500 convictions and 0 deportations relating to the scandal have occurred since 2011, despite Government pledges to hold those responsible to account.
