1 week ago
7
Safeguarding curate Jess Phillips has told Sky News that councils that judge they don't person a occupation with grooming gangs are "idiots" - arsenic she denied Elon Musk influenced the determination to person a nationalist enquiry connected the subject.
The minister said: "I don't travel Elon Musk's proposal connected thing though possibly I excessively would similar to spell to Mars.
"Before anyone adjacent knew Elon Musk's name, I was moving with the victims of these crimes."
Politics latest: Starmer responds to study suggesting taxation rises needed
Mr Musk had called Ms Phillips a "rape genocide apologist" successful 1 of a bid of inflammatory posts connected X successful January and said she should spell to jail.
Mr Musk, past a adjacent adjutant of US President Donald Trump, sparked a important governmental enactment with his comments - with the Conservative Party and Reform UK calling for a caller nationalist enquiry into grooming gangs.
At the time, Ms Phillips denied a petition for a nationalist enquiry into kid intersexual exploitation successful Oldham connected the ground that it should beryllium done astatine a section level.
But the authorities announced a nationalist enquiry aft Baroness Casey's accelerated audit connected grooming gangs, which was published successful June.
Asked if she thought determination was, successful the words of Baroness Casey, "over representation" among suspects of Asian and Pakistani men, Ms Phillips replied: "My ain acquisition of moving with galore young girls successful my country - yes determination is simply a problem. There are antithetic parts of the state wherever the occupation volition look different, organised transgression has antithetic flavours crossed the board.
"But I person to look astatine the evidence… and the authorities reacts to the evidence."
Ms Phillips besides said the location caput has written to each constabulary chiefs telling them that information postulation connected ethnicity "has to change", to guarantee that it is ever recorded, promising "we volition legislate to alteration the mode this [collection] is done if necessary".
Read more:
Chancellor warned 'substantial taxation rises' needed
Minister admits UK-France migrant returns could beryllium 'frustrated' by ineligible challenges
Operation Beaconport has since been established, led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), and volition beryllium reviewing much than 1,200 closed cases of kid intersexual exploitation.
Ms Phillips revealed that astatine slightest "five, six" councils person asked to beryllium a portion of the nationalist reappraisal - and denounced councils that believed they don't person a occupation with grooming gangs arsenic "idiots".
"I don't privation [the inquiry] conscionable to spell implicit places that person already had inquiries and find things the Casey had already identified," she said.
She confirmed that a shortlist for a seat has been drawn up, and she expects the enquiry to beryllium finished wrong 3 years.
Ms Phillips's comments travel aft she announced £426,000 of backing to rotation retired artificial quality tools crossed each 43 constabulary forces successful England and Wales to velocity up investigations into modern slavery, kid enactment maltreatment and region lines gangs.
Some 13 forces person entree to the AI apps, which the Home Office says person saved much than £20m and 16,000 hours for investigators.
The apps tin construe ample amounts of substance successful overseas languages and analyse information to find relationships betwixt suspects.
English (US) ·