Dan Carden has become the first Labour MP to break ranks and demand a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
The MP for Liverpool Walton, said that the “public call for justice must be heeded” and that Sir Keir Starmer should “use the full power of the state to deliver justice”.
It comes as new polling showed that more than four in ten people believed that the grooming gangs scandal was deliberately covered up.
The Prime Minister ordered Labour MPs to vote to block a statutory inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, which was backed by Kemi Badenoch and Elon Musk, the tech billionaire.
Musk and Cummings
It comes after the Mail on Sunday reports that Mr Musk, the owner of X, has been in communication with Dominic Cummings who is helping to coordinate his attacks on Labour.
The former No 10 adviser to Boris Johnson has reportedly been in contact with Mr Musk, with an ally of the tech billionaire telling the newspaper that the pair “are talking about small government and the end of the traditional party system”.
The Mail on Sunday also reported that senior government sources believed that Mr Cummings encouraged the tech billionaire to post incendiary comments on social media calling for Sir Keir to be removed from office.
Sir Keir did not take part in the vote and his spokesman said he would be “guided by the victims” on the issue, but Downing Street denied that this meant Sir Keir was wavering in his belief that a new inquiry was unnecessary.
But Mr Carden told the Liverpool Echo: “The public compassion for the victims, thousands of young British working-class girls and children is real. The public call for justice must be heeded.
“It is shocking that people in positions of power could have covered up and refused to act to avoid confronting racial or cultural issues or because victims were poor and working-class. We must question and challenge the orthodoxy of progressive liberal multiculturalism that led to authorities failing to act.”
He added: “Both Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips (the safeguarding minister) have strong records in this area and yet the government has failed to take the high ground.
“It must communicate a clear message about whose side it is on and now direct the state to implement the rule of law without fear (or) favour and deliver justice.
“The Prime Minister must use the full power of the state to deliver justice. It must continue to unflinchingly pursue the perpetrators and bring to account those in positions of authority who turned a blind eye, failed to act, or gave political cover to the gangs.”
The intervention comes as a poll of more than 2,000 adults by More In Common showed 41 per cent believed the grooming gangs scandal was deliberately covered up.
A further 36 per cent believed they were not properly investigated due to incompetence or lack of resources. Only five per cent believed they were properly investigated by the authorities. Three quarters (73 per cent) believed the scandal was driven by authorities’ fear of accountability. A similar proportion cited a reluctance to inflame community tensions.
A majority also felt that neither the previous Conservative Government (69 per cent) nor the current Labour Government (60 per cent) had done enough to tackle the issue.
There was, however, strong cross-party support for a proposal by Professor Alexis Jay’s inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) for anyone working with children to be required by law to report any child abuse allegations – and face up to seven years in jail if they deliberately tried to cover them up.
Three quarters of Britons support mandatory reporting of child abuse (74 per cent), including a strong majority of voters across all major parties.
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, became the first Labour politician to defy Sir Keir and call for a national inquiry.
He told BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday that he believed there was “the case for a limited national inquiry” that draws on local reviews into child sexual exploitation.
Mr Burnham commissioned an independent review in 2017 to consider allegations made in a BBC documentary. It looked at grooming in Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale and concluded that authorities failed to protect children.
Neil O’Brien, a shadow education minister, said that Mr Burnham’s intervention showed that the Government’s line on a fresh inquiry was “crumbling”.
Fury over the grooming gangs scandal was reignited after it emerged that Ms Phillips refused to fund an inquiry into grooming gangs in Oldham, leading to sustained online criticism led by Mr Musk.
Prof Alexis Jay, who led a seven-year probe into child sexual abuse, said that there had been “enough” inquiries and consultations, and called for “action” to be taken on the recommendations she had already made.