Labour Minister denies Government 'politicised' grooming gangs scandal and blames Tories for 'doing nothing'

GB News

GB News presenter Stephen Dixon has grilled Labour Minister Emma Reynolds on Sir Keir Starmer's sudden U-turn on a grooming gang inquiry, claiming they are taking the issue "very seriously".Speaking to the People's Channel, Reynolds defended Starmer's decision to hold a national inquiry, despite Starmer previously describing supporters of a probe as "far-right".FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00Report by Baroness Casey into the grooming gangs today.

00:04That's after the Prime Minister says the findings convinced him to announce a full-scale national inquiry.

00:10Let's talk to Emma Reynolds, should we, who's joining us, now Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

00:16Good morning to you. There's a lot of pressure on the Prime Minister to apologise.

00:21Why on earth, on this issue, did he politicise it earlier in the year,

00:26saying people who wanted a full national inquiry were jumping on a far-right bandwagon

00:32only to now decide that actually they were right in the first place?

00:38Well, I remember distinctly that at Prime Minister's questions in January,

00:44the Prime Minister rightly said that there were different views on both sides of this debate

00:48and actually victims and victims' families had different views too.

00:53But what we did in January is that we asked every police force to reopen investigations.

01:00We now have over 800 reopened cases.

01:03We've ordered the National Crime Agency to follow those up.

01:07So the Prime Minister and the government as a whole,

01:09our priority all along was to, and continues to be,

01:13to deliver justice for the victims and their families and get to the bottom of what happened.

01:18But how can people believe that you are genuine in wanting to get justice for those young girls

01:24and those women, those survivors of those child rape gangs, let's call it what it is,

01:29when you've got the likes of Lucy Powell calling it dog-whistle politics?

01:35Well, look, we take this issue incredibly seriously.

01:39The Prime Minister was Director of Public Prosecutions,

01:42and he acted 10 years ago in that position on these issues.

01:47He was the first to take a prosecution to grooming gangs.

01:50We have set out now a proper plan.

01:53We've listened to what Baroness Casey, who at the start of her review,

01:56didn't think there needed to be a national inquiry, but has since uncovered gaps.

02:01We have supported the set-up of local inquiries.

02:04We don't want to rerun what Alexis Jay did for seven years until 2022.

02:11We have already taken forward some of her recommendations.

02:14The last government, frankly, did nothing in the time they were in office

02:18on the 20 recommendations that she put out in 2022.

02:22So we are forging ahead with urgent action here to deliver justice for the victims.

02:28Yes, but you haven't as yet sort of answered any of the questions we've put to you.

02:33You've avoided the point, which is, I mean, yes,

02:37whatever action's been taken before, great,

02:40but there was calls for a national inquiry.

02:42And anyone who looked at the evidence that GB News put forward, for example,

02:48with the work that our reporter has done, would have said,

02:51yeah, it's a very simple answer to this question.

02:54There clearly needs to be a national inquiry.

02:56This is a huge problem.

02:58And you politicised it as a government.

03:00You politicised that and said there was no need for it.

03:03And now you've changed your mind.

03:06You've got to address that, haven't you?

03:09Well, look, the Prime Minister was talking about conservative ministers

03:14who were politicising this issue,

03:18who, frankly, had sat in government offices for years,

03:23sat on the recommendations from the Alexis Jay report

03:26and not taken those forward.

03:28He also said, however,

03:30that there were strong views and opinions on both sides of this debate

03:34as to whether there needed to be a national inquiry.

03:36But the one that Louise Casey is calling for

03:39is to coordinate local inquiries and to fill the gaps.

03:42It is not a rerun of the Alexis Jay inquiry

03:45because we do not want to wait another seven years

03:48before we take action,

03:49which is why we have prioritised taking action,

03:52reopening cases,

03:54ordering the National Crime Agency

03:56to follow up those over 800 cases

03:59now reopened since January,

04:01since the Home Secretary ordered the police

04:03to reopen the cases into grooming.

04:05So we are making progress

04:07and we want to make progress as quickly as possible.

04:10And that's what is important here.

04:12What's important is the victims.

04:14The victims have to be at the centre of this inquiry

04:18and the centre of this work.

04:20And we need to take urgent action

04:21and we already are making progress.

04:23You say you want to get to the bottom of this quickly.

04:25You say you don't want it to take another seven years.

04:28How long then will this new national inquiry take

04:32and what funding is going to be given to it?

04:37Well, the Home Secretary will make those things clear

04:41later on when she makes a statement

04:43when the Baroness Casey report is published later today.

04:49So you'll get more clarity on that later today.

04:51How helpful is it when,

04:53I mean, we know that there is a significant problem

04:56which is still existing at the moment.

04:58We talk in historic terms,

05:00but actually this is an ongoing issue,

05:03which is why speed is essential in all of this.

05:06Why then does someone like Sadiq Khan,

05:08the Labour Mayor of London,

05:09when he's asked about grooming gangs in London,

05:12say, I don't understand the question?

05:18Well, look, as a government,

05:20we take this issue very seriously.

05:23The point you make is right.

05:25This is about historic grooming gangs inquiries,

05:29but it's also to ensure

05:30that we look into anything that's current

05:33and make sure that we get justice for the victims,

05:36but also to protect young girls and protect our children.

05:40Can I ask you about the situation between Iran and Israel?

05:44It's intensified over the weekend.

05:46What's your reaction to what you've seen?

05:47The government is prioritising de-escalation.

05:53We're very concerned about the instability

05:56and the situation in the Middle East.

05:59We've urged both sides to show restraint,

06:02to step back from action.

06:04The Prime Minister, as you know,

06:06is in Canada and is already talking to G7 leaders.

06:09So we want all diplomatic pressure

06:12to come to bear on both sides

06:14so that we can get them back round the table

06:17to have a diplomatic solution to this situation.

06:21Can I ask you about transport?

06:25The spending review saw the Department of Transport

06:28lose 5% on an annual day-to-day budget basis.

06:31So we understand capital investments going up.

06:33I know you're announcing today a billion pounds,

06:37which will be spent on renewal of bridges,

06:40ruined roads and tunnels,

06:42and a new Thames crossing.

06:46It doesn't seem like a lot of money.

06:48I mean, I know it is, but in real terms,

06:50I mean, the pothole experts in this country

06:52say it would cost £16 billion just to repair our roads.

06:58Well, on the spending review,

07:00in terms of the Department for Transport,

07:03one of the reasons for the figures

07:05that you've just talked about

07:06is that during COVID,

07:08there needed to be greater rail subsidy

07:10because there were fewer people using the railways.

07:13Now that subsidy has reduced significantly

07:16because there are more and more people travelling to work

07:18than there were, obviously, during COVID times.

07:21The £1 billion structures fund

07:24that we are announcing today

07:25is in addition to the over £15 billion

07:28in city transport deals

07:31that we announced a couple of weeks ago

07:33and the over £2 billion

07:35for local transport projects.

07:37But we're determined to improve our infrastructure

07:40and later this week,

07:42we are also setting out

07:43a 10-year infrastructure plan

07:45so that we can take the right long-term decisions

07:48to improve transport,

07:50to improve infrastructure around the country

07:52because that is absolutely central

07:53to kick-starting economic growth

07:55and to better growth and jobs around the country.

07:59OK. Emma Reynolds.

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