STARMER 'OUT OF TOUCH' ON RAPE GANG SCANDAL

Fury as PM 'smears' concerned politicians for 'jumping on far-Right bandwagon'

- Steph Spyro

SIR Keir Starmer was last night slammed for being "out of touch" with the publi after "smearing" politicians demanding national inquiry into rape gangs.

The PM accused the Tories and Reform of ampli fying far-Right claims and "jumping on the band wagon" to gain attention. Gangs abused thousand of girls in child grooming scandals that rocked the nation.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "It is disgraceful that Keir Starmer is smearing people who are concerned about rape gangs as jumping on a 'far-Right' bandwagon rather than facing up to his own record on this and reconsidering his refusal as PM to hold a full national inquiry.

"As Kemi Badenoch said on Sunday, a new inquiry must go beyond previous inquiries and focus specifically on the institutional and political failings that enabled the systematic and barbaric attacks to take place.

"If Keir Starmer can't see why people across the UK are keen to have these questions answered and proper accountability for the victims of this heinous scandal, it just shows how out of touch he really is."

Mrs Badenoch's party will tomorrow try to force Labour MPs to vote on a full inquiry when it puts forward an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing Bill.

The Tory leader said Sir Keir was "applying Labour smear tactics from 20 years ago" and was "a man of the past with no answers for today's problems, let alone tomorrow's". She added: "That such a huge scandal could occur should prompt soul-searching not ranting that those of us who care about it are 'the far-Right'."

Accusations