Angela Rayner has not held a single meeting about the grooming gangs inquiry since she was reappointed as Housing and Communities Secretary. Labour politicians very keen to stay away from the ‘independent’ process…
Shadow Housing Secretary Katie Lam asked what meetings Rayner had held with chairman Baroness Longfield, other panel members or any interested parties on the inquiry’s progress since 12 May. Minister Florence Eshalomi replied:
“The Secretary of State has not had any meetings with interested external parties, including Baroness Longfield and other panel members, regarding the progress of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs since her reappointment to the department on 20 July.”
Asked about the period before that, the department offered: “We cannot account for her time prior to this.” Obviously…
The inquiry, which is mostly ignored by the government, announced a “listening project” in July and new investigations in Wales and Birmingham at the end of September. Rayner is responsible for ‘communities and faith’ as part of her brief and has so far failed to engage anybody in the department, or in relevant local government bodies, about the rape gangs or how to stop them from ever happening again, or about providing support for the local reviews that are now being launched. Rayner’s ally Jim McMahon led infamous Oldham Council from 2011 to 2016…
Longfield, a Labour peer, is leading the inquiry over three years with a budget of £65 million. Survivors previously quit the official panel to which the government added them. Rayner’s department is meant to support the inquiry, which was launched by the Home Office. Eshalomi said:
“MHCLG is fully committed to supporting the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs and will co-operate with the Inquiry throughout the course of its work. In accordance with its legal obligations and the Inquiry’s procedures, my department will respond to requests for information and provide relevant material as required.”
Just not committed enough for Labour ministers to actually get involved…
UPDATE: Katie Lam tells Guido:
“The rape and grooming gangs, which have terrorised dozens of towns and cities across the country, could not have operated without the local councillors and council officials who covered up their vile crimes.
It’s therefore absolutely appalling that, in almost four months since being made Secretary of State for Local Government, Angela Rayner hasn’t bothered to hold a single meeting regarding the ongoing national inquiry into these horrors – not with Baroness Longfield, not with a single panel member, and not with any of the officials from the councils responsible for the cover-up.
How can victims, and the public, have any confidence that she and her department are taking this issue seriously?”
Kemi Badenoch at the 1922-ConHome bash last night:
“I did praise [Burnham] for his stamina, it was amazing. All I had to do was sit back and lie there. I didn’t have to do anything at all…”