'Weak and nervous' Keir Starmer skewered over Britain's 'grooming gang failure'

Keir Starmer is "weak and naive" on the issue of grooming gangs according to one Conservative MP who has blasted the hypocrisy of Labour's stance on the issue.

Robbie Moore, the Member of Parliament for Keighley & Ilkley was left incensed this week after Bradford Safeguarding Partnership refused to hold a local inquiry into the issue of grooming gangs in the area.

The refusal comes despite the Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips using the perceived benefits of local inquiries as the justification for not holding one at the national level.

Moore who has been the MP since 2019 has called for further examination of the issue for years and believes that the refusal to do so is a "failure of the British state."

He told Express.co.uk: "Literally within days of the safeguarding minister Jess Phillips saying that local inquiries are more effective, they reject it.

"I have been calling for this for years but at every juncture I am met with people who will not entertain a local inquiry.

"Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire will not entertain a local inquiry, nor will Alison Lowe (Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime) who says 'this is a local issue, not a national one.

"There are two main reasons given for refusing an inquiry. Firstly, it is too expensive but I do not accept that when they have just spent £40 million on an empty music venue.

"Secondly, they say that they will learn nothing new. I'm sorry but I do not accept that this costs too much, what is the cost of justice?"

A 2021 report by Bradford Safeguarding officials into child sexual exploitation made X recommendations but has been labelled as inadequate by Moore.

Jess Phillips Labour MP For Birmingham Yardley© Getty

He said: "The report was 50 pages long which is an indication of the lack of depth but also, they only looked at five children and they did not address the scale that this crime was perpetrated at, which could dwarf what we have seen in places such as Rotherham."

The report did not address the issues of grooming gangs directly, instead, it focused on child abuse more generally, leaving Moore believing that its findings are inadequate if local authorities are to uncover the scale of the issue in Bradford and take steps to prevent it happening again.

Earlier this week the Prime Minister doubled down on his insistence that a national inquiry was not the most effective way of handling an issue which has plagued cities and towns across the country.

He told MPs that the Jay report which was commissioned by Prime Minister Theresa May in 2015 took seven years to reach its conclusion as he warned that a national inquiry could delay justice for victims into the 2030s.

The claim was rubbished by Moore who believes that a new national inquiry would not delay the prosecution of those involved.

He said: You can have a twin-tracked process. They could enact the recommendations in full whilst also holding a national inquiry, you can do both, there is nothing to stop the prosecution of those involved.

"There are also large elements of the pakistani-community, who want this inquiry so that they can show that it is a minority of their community involved in this.

"There are 50 areas of concern that need to be looked at, with that many, how can this not be appropriate for a national inquiry?"

Reference: Story by Conor Wilson: Daily Express