Personally attacked by the owner of X, the Labor Prime Minister announced that he would make the reporting of sexual violence committed against children compulsory.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised this Tuesday, January 7 to strengthen the protection of minors against sexual violence and defended his past action to repress these crimes, after several days of pressure from Elon Musk, of the far right and conservatives.
Personally attacked by the owner of X, the Labor official indicated in the tabloid The Sun that his government was going to make the reporting of sexual violence committed against children compulsory, in accordance with the recommendations of a public inquiry on the subject concluded in 2022.
Two-tier justice
Elon Musk, close to Donald Trump, has repeatedly questioned for several days the management by the British authorities of several cases of rape and sexual exploitation of vulnerable girls and young girls by gangs of men mainly from Pakistan, in the early 2000s. In the town of Rotherham (north) alone, 1,500 victims were recorded.
The public authorities have been accused of not having taken stock of this scandal, regularly used by the British far right to denounce two-tier justice.
Keir Starmer, who was head of the prosecution service in England and Wales between 2008 and 2013, said he acted at the time to ensure that “the men responsible for these despicable acts be brought to justice, put in the dock and then behind bars”. He accused “extreme right voices” of “trying to rewrite history”.
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“500,000 children could be victims of sexual violence each year”
Following a vast public inquiry carried out over seven years and completed in 2022, “one of the main recommendations was to make the reporting of sexual violence against children compulsory (…) As Prime Minister, I will implement it”said Keir Starmer in the Sun. This measure will particularly concern teachers, social workers and police officers.
He also announced the creation of a “specific criminal offense for any person deliberately obstructing an investigation into sexual violence”punishable by prison sentences. According to him, “up to 500,000 children could be victims of sexual violence each year, whether online, within the family or at the hands of these vile gangs”.
“Improve data collection”
The police must also “improve data collection”particularly with regard to “the ethnic origin of the culprits”he declared.
The leader of the conservative opposition, Kemi Badenoch, is calling for a new public inquiry into the exploitation of minors. She announced that her party would try to put this proposal to a vote by presenting an amendment to Parliament on Wednesday.
Labor did not plan to support it, pointing out that the Tories had failed to implement the recommendations of the public inquiry when they were in power in 2022.
