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Pushing for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs by halting the progress of a bill aimed at bolstering child safety is “utterly sickening”, the education secretary has said.<\/p>\n
Bridget Phillipson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Tory Party’s plan to bring forward an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill “would kill it stone dead”.<\/p>\n
She said it was “the single biggest piece of children safeguarding legislation in a generation”, which the Conservatives intended to block “on the altar of political opportunism”.<\/p>\n
The Conservatives have joined calls by Elon Musk for a new UK-wide inquiry into child sexual abuse, despite a wide-ranging independent probe having concluded its work in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Conservatives will bring forward an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill on Wednesday, which is expected to call for ministers to establish a “national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”.<\/p>\n
The amendment is unlikely to be supported by a majority in the Commons, as the government wants to roll out the recommendations of the inquiry led by Prof Alexis Jay, rather than open a new inquiry.<\/p>\n
The non-binding amendment also calls for the Commons to halt the progress of the bill, which includes measures aimed at bolstering safeguarding for children.<\/p>\n
Phillipson said the government backed local inquiries into grooming gangs and said the row over calls for a new national probe had “lost sight” of victims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n