Grooming gang rhetoric risks inciting massacre - Streeting

The use of inflammatory language over grooming gangs risks vilifying entire communities and could lead to atrocities such as the mosque massacre in New Zealand that killed more than 50 people, the health secretary has warned.

- Pippa Crerar

Wes Streeting said he had "no difficulty or qualms" in calling out "sickening" crimes of sexual abuse gangs, criticising "well-meaning, but fundamentally misguided and warped views of political correctness" for letting down thousands of children. But in an interview with the Guardian, the Ilford North MP said: "At the same time, there are people in my community who have either Pakistani heritage or look different, who are now more fearful today than they were before."

After a week in which Elon Musk's increasingly erratic tirades against the UK government have dominated the news agenda, Streeting predicted a "global battle" in coming decades over whether big tech would be harnessed for the common good or by tyrannical forces.

The government has rejected calls from the billionaire X owner and rightwing politicians for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, although some Labour figures, including the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, have suggested there should be one with limited scope.

Keir Starmer and his ministers have said they are open-minded about holding one in future but that their priority is acting on recommendations of the 2022 report into child sexual abuse, with details expected to be set out in coming weeks.

The PM has accused the Conservatives of "jumping on the bandwagon" after failing to act during their 14 years in power, and condemned the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, for her plan - rejected by MPs - to vote down a bill on children's wellbeing by amending it to call for an inquiry.