A victim of child sexual abuse has hit out at “smug” Kemi Badenoch as he accused the Conservative leader of politicising the grooming gangs scandal.
Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde said he was “really let down and disgusted” by Mrs Badenoch’s party political response to the national inquiry.
Labour’s Dan Aldridge also spoke of his experience of “sexual and psychological abuse” as a result of grooming, during the Home Secretary’s statement in the Commons.
The MP for Weston-super-Mare said he “found it galling” to listen to Tory and Reform MPs “who never once lifted a finger”.
Mrs Badenoch earlier said it was left to the Conservatives to “force” action on grooming gangs “time and time again”.
The Opposition leader said: “They accused those of us demanding justice for the victims of this scandal as and I quote ‘jumping on a far right bandwagon’, a claim the Prime Minister’s official spokesman restated this weekend, shameful. It has been left to Conservatives time and time again to force this issue.”
She added: “We went further than those recommendations. It was the Conservatives who established the grooming gangs taskforce, which supported police forces to make 807 arrests for group-based child sexual exploitation last year. So don’t tell me we did nothing.
“There are legitimate concerns about institutions investigating themselves, especially as some of the most egregious cases of institutional failure occurred in Labour-controlled authorities. They can moan as much as they like but the people out there believe that is why nothing has happened yet.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Baroness Casey’s report “sets out a timeline of failure from 2009 to 2025”.
She added: “Repeated reports and recommendations that were not acted on, on child protection, on police investigations, on ethnicity data, on data sharing, on support for victims.
“For 14 of those 16 years, her party was in government, including years when she was the minister for children and families, then the minister for equalities, covering race and ethnicity issues and violence against women and girls, and I did not hear her raise any of these issues until January of this year.”
Speaking of his own experiences of abuse, Mr Babarinde said “the horror, the trauma, the guilt never leaves you”.
The MP for Eastbourne said: “As a survivor of child sexual abuse myself, I stand in solidarity with the many victims and survivors that the system has failed over many, many years.
“And I can say that the horror, the trauma, the guilt never leaves you, and I so hope that every survivor who is identified here receives the mental health support and otherwise they deserve to rebuild their lives.
“Survivors have witnessed very many promises, 20 recommendations, and the call of ‘never again’, time and again. What will the Home Secretary do and how will she reassure them that this won’t be another one of those examples?”
He continued: “I am really let down and disgusted that the leader of the Opposition began her remarks with a party political assault on her opponents like this. Victims and survivors deserve more than a smug ‘I told you so’, diatribe. Victims and survivors deserve action.”
In her reply, Ms Cooper said his speaking out would help other victims and confirmed the Government wants to extend therapy available for victims.
Later in the session, Mr Aldridge said: “I want to pay tribute to victims, survivors and campaigners. I am 40 years old, and it has taken me to be 40 to be able to talk about some of the abuse that happened when I was a child.
“As one of the countless victims living with the impacts of grooming, sexual and psychological abuse, I found it galling to watch Tory and Reform members who never once lifted a finger.”
In response to groans from the Opposition benches, he added: “No, you didn’t. You didn’t.”
Mr Aldridge accused opposition parties of “appointing themselves as defenders of abuse for political gain”, adding: “Does the minister agree with me that neither history nor the British people will be kind to the sickening political opportunism we have seen from the parties opposite?”
Ms Cooper thanked Mr Aldridge for “speaking out about his experiences, because to speak out as a victim of child abuse in this way is immensely difficult, and I think everyone should listen to what victims and survivors have to say”.
She added: “He is right that this should be something that everyone can agree on, because it’s about the protection of children, it’s about the tackling of serious crime, and I would hope that is something that all of us can do with respect and together.”
Elsewhere in the session, Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, said blaming “entire communities” does “nothing to protect innocent victims”.
She said: “British Muslims stand on the side of victims and support the full force of the law against all perpetrators of abuse.
“But would the Home Secretary agree with me that those that display selected outrage or fan the flames to blame entire communities do nothing to protect innocent victims or further the cause of victims?”
In her reply, Ms Cooper said “the horror at crimes committed against children and particularly against young girls” is “shared right across communities”.
“It is in the interests of those children and of those victim survivors that we have reforms now,” she added.
