Heath

Labour has shelved what limited inquiries it was prepared to mount into the industrial scale child abuse by Pakistani-heritage rape gangs over several decades. It is fitting that this shameful surrender was made by vacuous ministerial show pony Jess Phillips, who announced it as Parliament was heading for Easter recess and the media’s eyes were on Trump tariffs. A good day to bury bad news if ever there was one. Why this abject abandoning of a Labour government’s responsibilities? Simple. Pure party self-interest. First, any investigation would merely confirm that Labour local authorities looked the other way for years and failed to prevent the most heinous abuse. Phillips admitted the change of course was in response to local authority lobbying. Second, it is too toxic for Labour. Any investigation would confirm that the evil perpetrators in the rape/grooming gangs were overwhelmingly Muslims of Asian origin, a vital part of Labour’s electoral base with which it is already in trouble for not being sufficiently robust over Gaza. So best draw a veil over it all, even at the expense of vulnerable, abused young women never getting proper justice or closure. Unforgivable.