Health Secretary Wes Streeting has described billionaire Elon Musk’s recent criticism of the UK government’s handling of grooming gangs as “misjudged and certainly misinformed”. Musk has taken to his social media platform to accuse Sir Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute gang members for systematically grooming and raping young girls. He also called for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to be jailed. Streeting, however, stated that “this government takes the issue of child sexual exploitation incredibly seriously” and invited Musk to “roll up his sleeves and work with us” against rape gangs. The Tories have criticized Musk for sharing content that is factually inaccurate.
While visiting a care home in Carlisle, Streeting explained to reporters that Labour is implementing the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse led by Professor Alexis Jay “in full”. He also stated that some of Musk’s criticisms were uninformed but added that Labour would be willing to welcome Musk’s help in tackling the issue.
Musk, a key adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, has been retweeting Reform UK and Conservative MPs calling for a national inquiry into rape gangs. He has also accused Sir Keir of failing to properly prosecute rape gangs while serving as the director of public prosecutions (DPP). Streeting opposes these views, stating that rape gangs are taken incredibly seriously.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said that Musk is in talks about making a donation to the party. The two met at Trump’s Florida retreat last month. There have been numerous investigations into the systematic rape of girls and young women by organised gangs in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, and Bristol.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, described child sexual abuse as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”. Professor Jay recently expressed frustration that none of her report’s 20 recommendations to tackle abuse had been implemented more than two years later. She said, “It’s a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there’s some public understanding of it. But we can only do what we can to press the government to look at the delivery of all of this. It doesn’t need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done.
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