Labour minister Lucy Powell is facing calls to resign from rape survivors after calling the grooming gangs scandal a “dog whistle” issue.
The Leader of the House of Commons is facing criticism that she belittled victims with comments she made on BBC radio.
She was on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions programme on Friday night with Conservative Party co-chairman Nigel Huddleston, Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan and political commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie when she was asked about grooming gangs.
When Mr Montgomerie brought up a recent Channel 4 documentary about five women’s stories of being groomed and abused by gangs, Ms Powell replied: “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we?”
Her comment received widespread backlash.
Sarah Wilson, a victim of the Rotherham scandal, said Ms Powell’s comments showed what survivors have been “up against all these years” and why they have not been “listened to – they never cared and never will”.
She wrote: “Totally dismissed survivors and our experiences of [being] groomed. I was an 11-year-old little girl been raped and trafficked all across England… trying to blow the ‘dogs’ whistle and be saved but instead they chucked us to the dogs and left us to be tortured.”
Marlon West, the father of a grooming gang victim, told GB News: “I think the mask has slipped now of what the general opinion is of Labour MPs.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by other survivors contacting me, and we’re appalled – she should resign. The Labour Party should at least suspend her and do a full investigation.”
Ms Powell posted an apology on social media on Saturday night, writing: “In the heat of a discussion on (Any Questions) I would like to clarify that I regard issues of child exploitation & grooming with the utmost seriousness. I’m sorry if this was unclear. I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself. As a constituency MP I’ve dealt with horrendous cases. This (Government) is acting to get to the truth, and deliver justice.”
Her Cabinet colleague Wes Streeting said Ms Powell was “mortified” and her comments were not interpreted as she had intended.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, the Health Secretary said: “She’s mortified and, you know, she does not want and would not want people who’ve campaigned on, or been victims of, these most appalling crimes to think she was in any way trying to undermine those experiences or those arguments.
“I think the point she was trying to make, and the point I would make, is on such a serious issue the more we can take the heat of the politics out of this, and get to the heart of the challenge, the better.”
Asked if he and his Labour colleagues see the grooming gangs scandal as a dog-whistle issue or a “coded signal to racists”, the Health Minister told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “No, and I don’t think that’s what Lucy intended to imply in a heated debate on Radio 4, and that’s why she’s apologised for what she said.
“I don’t think for a moment she would have meant or wanted to imply that raising these issues, talking about these issues, is dog whistle.”
“We all make mistakes” and the important thing is that “we own it”, Mr Streeting added.
Asked if Ms Powell’s job as Leader of the House of Commons was safe, he said: “I think she’s made a genuine mistake, she’s owned up to it, she’s said sorry and we’ll move on.”
Mr Montgomerie said Ms Powell’s comments were “clearly ill-judged” but her words have “wider resonance”.
“There’s been a tendency – it’s gone on for too long now – to close all sorts of important debates down by throwing that racist charge at people,” Mr Montgomerie told Sky News.
He said people feel there is a “stifling of debate”.
“In the context of grooming gangs, an issue of such consequence, I think it was clearly ill-judged by Lucy Powell, but she was, I think she was keen to have a very strong go at Reform, and I was the representative of Reform that night.
“But unfortunately, the words she chose have wider resonance.
“And I think the only trouble, if she really is to get in trouble (is) if survivors come out in large numbers and object to what she said.”
Conservative co-chairman Mr Huddleston told Sky News Ms Powell’s statement was “completely inappropriate”.
He said: “Quite frankly, Lucy Powell made quite a lot of silly comments on a whole range of issues. That was one of them.
“This is a really serious issue and to kind of belittle… it is completely inappropriate.
“I think that shows that, unfortunately, Wes Streeting and the Labour Party have underestimated how big an issue this is, how it resonates with the public and how they are angry about what they perceive as this Government’s lack of action here.
“They made promises about having additional investigations, and now have backtracked on it, and they need to be held to account for that.”
Mr Huddleston also insisted the matter needs “a proper, full inquiry”, adding: “The public demands that and I just do not understand the reasons why Labour is so reluctant.
“And this is why I’m afraid it does smack of some kind of political cover-up because they’re worried that it could do some damage to Labour politicians and Labour councils.
“There’s accusations that the Labour councils and some of the Labour areas that were responsible for overseeing some of the activities around here did not take appropriate action, and I think they’re embarrassed about that.
“They should be embarrassed about it, to be fair, these are accusations, right?
“They are accusations, but then you clear up the accusations by having a full inquiry.”
At least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
The issue of grooming – including by gangs of Pakistani origin – has been put back into the spotlight after Labour denied a request for a new Whitehall-led inquiry.
The Government instead ordered locally-led probes, although Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a “rapid audit” into the scale of the issue.
