Reform and Tories accused of weaponising grooming gangs scandal

Unsurprisingly, the Conservative attempt to amend/kill off the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill failed tonight, with MPs voting 364 to 111 against the reasoned amendment tabled by Kemi Badenoch. The amendment declined to give the bill its second reading on the basis of a lengthy list of issues, with the call for a national inquiry on grooming gangs at the very end. 

The question of the inquiry did not fully dominate the debate, though there were some tense moments, particularly when Reform UK MPs were speaking. Labour backbencher Sarah Champion, who had long been outspoken on sexual exploitation, called the speech by Rupert Lowe ‘disgusting’ because of the language he had used. Her colleague Nadia Whittome similarly attacked both Reform and the Conservatives for ‘weaponising the pain and the trauma of victims for their own political ends’.

The airwaves have been full of Labour and Conservative figures angrily debating the amendment on the grooming gangs, but the debate in the Chamber was – fortunately – more focused on the substance of the bill, something Michael discusses on our latest Coffee House Shots podcast here.