Paul Waugh warns of ‘misinformation’ after voting down Tory attempt to force national inquiry – despite backing one himself
Labour MP Paul Waugh has defended voting down Kemi Badenoch’s attempt to force a national grooming gangs inquiry ahead of Yvette Cooper’s announcement later today – despite calling for exactly such a probe himself back in January.
The ex-journalist, who joined a gaggle of Labour MPs in calling for a national grooming gangs probe, warned “misinformation” has been spreading about votes held in the House of Commons earlier this year.
Badenoch’s Tories attempted to attach a so-called “wrecking” amendment to Labour’s Children & Wellbeing Bill to force a national probe, with Labour MPs voting down the motion by 364 votes to 111 – a majority of 253.
Voted Against What He Supported
Waugh joined other advocates of a national inquiry in voting against the Tories‘ push, including Rotherham MP Sarah Champion – despite both having publicly called for such an inquiry.
The Rochdale MP had told BBC Politics North West in January: “I’m not against a national enquiry but it has got to have some key caveats. First, is it supported by victims because they are the people who have told their stories and it took a lot of bravery to tell those stories?”
Champion, who represents Rotherham where 1,400 girls fell victim to grooming between 1997 and 2013, had declared: “Nothing less than a national inquiry into the failings of those in authority to both prevent, and be accountable for their failings, in relation to grooming gangs will restore the faith in our safeguarding systems.
‘Parliamentary Games’ Defence
Setting the record straight today, Waugh wrote: “Along with other Labour MPs, I voted in January against a Tory Parliamentary motion that would have killed off a new law to safeguard children.
The motion would have rejected the entire Children and Wellbeing Bill – which itself delivers a vital recommendation by the Jay inquiry into child sex abuse, to give children outside school a named identifier.
If the Opposition had been serious they could have tried to amend the bill at a later stage not its Second Reading.
“That would have been a very different matter. If you really care about the victims of abuse, you don’t play parliamentary games with it. And you don’t block one of the main recommendations of the Jay report that the previous Government failed to deliver on.”
Labour’s ‘Most Shameful Day’
Reform UK’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice branded the vote “Labour’s most shameful day” after the amendment was defeated.
Nigel Farage had earlier fumed that every attempt to have a public national debate about the grooming gang scandal has been “shut down by the Establishment”, asking “what have they got to hide?
The Clacton MP told the Commons that people “deserve to know the truth” about the scandal, which he said has taken place in at least 50 towns across the UK.
Starmer’s ‘Far-Right’ Attack
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer sparked outrage by accusing MPs who supported an inquiry of “jumping on a bandwagon” and “amplifying what the far-right is saying.
He hit out at Tory leader Badenoch over “lies and misinformation and slinging of mud” which did not help victims of child sexual abuse.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse, saying that recommendations from a seven-year investigation which reported in 2022 had not yet been implemented.
Labour Rebels Break Ranks
Despite voting down the Tory amendment, three Labour MPs from areas affected by grooming gangs later broke ranks to call for an inquiry – Sarah Champion (Rotherham), Dan Carden (Liverpool Walton) and Paul Waugh (Rochdale).
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham also called for a Public Inquiry.
New polling exclusively shared with GB News revealed that almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of Britons support a Public Inquiry – while only 14 per cent oppose one.
Cooper’s Response Today
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to give a statement to Parliament on grooming gangs today, following mounting pressure from within her own party.
Labour’s official line remains that the Government should move to implement the recommendations of Professor Alexis Jay’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) before launching a separate probe.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the IICSA is evidence that the matter has already been covered sufficiently at a national level.
Badenoch Keeps Fighting
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has vowed to continue pushing for a national inquiry, telling GB News in April that Labour MPs used the “excuse” of protecting “breakfast clubs” as a reason not to vote for the inquiry in January.
The Tories tabled another amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill in April to force another vote on the issue.
Badenoch accused Labour of “pure obfuscation” after meeting with rape gang survivors who she said were “deeply sceptical of Labour. One survivor told her Labour had “lied to the country.
‘Weaponising’ Row
The controversy has continued to rage, with Labour MP Nadia Whittome accusing Badenoch of “weaponising victims of child sexual exploitation for political points” during Prime Minister’s Questions in April.
“It’s damaging victims, and if she cared about child protection she wouldn’t be doing that. It’s a disgrace, you’re a disgrace,” Whittome told the Tory leader.
The row over a national inquiry into grooming gangs shows no sign of abating, with victims’ families continuing to demand answers and accountability for decades of abuse that saw thousands of vulnerable girls targeted across Britain.
Image credit:
Official portrait of Paul Waugh MP (2024) by Laurie Noble, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
