Elon Musk has made “misinformed” and “misjudged” feedback concerning the authorities’s response to grooming gangs within the UK, the well being secretary has mentioned.
Wes Streeting additionally urged the tech billionaire and proprietor of X to “roll his sleeves up” and assist the federal government sort out youngster intercourse abuse and exploitation on-line.
Mr Streeting was requested concerning the more and more lively curiosity Mr Musk has taken in British politics – he may also develop into US president-elect Donald Trump’s effectivity tsar this month.
Mr Musk, who has spoken positively about Reform UK on X and is reportedly contemplating making a donation to Nigel Farage’s celebration, has been crucial of the federal government’s dealing with of kid sexual exploitation throughout numerous cities and cities greater than a decade in the past.
He has claimed Sir Keir Starmer had did not carry “rape gangs” to justice when he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In 2013, Sir Keir launched new pointers for a way youngster sexual abuse victims ought to be handled and the way a case ought to be constructed and offered in court docket.
Mr Musk additionally argued that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after she rejected requests from Oldham Council for a nationwide inquiry into cases of kid sexual exploitation within the city.
Requested by reporters whether or not Mr Musk’s feedback had been “unhelpful”, Mr Streeting mentioned: “Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think are a misjudged and and certainly misinformed.
“However we’re keen to work with Elon Musk. I believe he is received an enormous position to play together with his social media platform to assist us and different nations to sort out this severe difficulty. So if he desires to work with us, roll his sleeves up. We would welcome that.”
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Mr Streeting urged Elon Musk to assist the federal government with tackling youngster abuse on-line
The well being secretary additionally mentioned he believed that “political correctness was able to get in the way of going off the perpetrators of these serious crimes.”
He added: “We’re not going to let that happen.”
Outling her causes for rejecting an inquiry into Oldham, Ms Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, mentioned that whereas she recognised the “strength of feeling” over the matter, she believed it was for “Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the government to intervene”.
However in a submit on X, Mr Musk claimed “the real reason she’s [Ms Phillips] refusing to investigate the rape gangs is that it would obviously lead to the blaming of Keir Stamer (head of the CPS at the time).”
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative chief, has referred to as for a nationwide inquiry into the grooming scandal whereas shadow ministers have written to Yvette Cooper, the house secretary, asking that she reverse the choice to not maintain a nationwide inquiry into Oldham.
“Only a statutory inquiry can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues” and take into account whether or not experiences had been ignored by the police, CPS and native council “or even covered up”, the letter learn.
Nonetheless, a letter to Oldham Council written in 2002 by Amanda Solloway, then the Conservative safeguarding minister, later emerged and confirmed she had additionally rejected a earlier request from the native authority for the federal government to arrange a public inquiry.
As an alternative, like Ms Phillips, Ms Solloway argued in favour of a domestically commissioned inquiry.
In 2022, the Impartial Inquiry into Baby Intercourse Abuse printed its closing report, by which it described the sexual abuse of kids as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.
Led by Professor Alexis Jay – who additionally uncovered the dimensions of kid sexual exploitation in Rotherham – the inquiry appeared into abuse by organised teams following a number of convictions of sexual offences towards kids throughout the UK between 2010-2014.
It beneficial that establishments that work with kids ought to be required by regulation to report suspicions of kid sexual abuse.
In November final 12 months, Prof Jay mentioned she felt “frustrated” that not one of the 20 suggestions put ahead by the inquiry had been applied greater than two years after its conclusion.
Mr Streeting mentioned the federal government was dedicated to implementing the suggestions of Professor Jay’s report “in full”.
“This government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the inquiry into child sexual abuse,” he mentioned.
“We will do that in full. We will get on with the job.”
