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Labour minister Lucy Powell ‘mortified’ over grooming gangs remarks

04 May 2025 5 minute read
Lucy Powell, Leader of the Commons. Photo Tejas Sandhu/PA Wire

Lucy Powell is “mortified” after she made comments that appeared to describe grooming gangs as a “dog whistle”, her Cabinet colleague Wes Streeting has said.

The Leader of the House of Commons 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 and Ms Powell, the Labour MP for Manchester Central, was accused of belittling the issue.

Apology

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.”

Mr Streeting said Ms Powell’s 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.

‘Mistake’

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.”

‘Full inquiry’

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.”


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Jeff
Jeff
17 days ago

She is right though.
usual suspects are quiet when white people are found out and incarcerated, yet stoke riots when they think someone not white and not from these shores is guilty.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
17 days ago
Reply to  Jeff

Yes. Reform have nothing to say about white, British grooming gangs, or paedophiles in general, which says to me that they are ok with them. Where are the ‘Save our children’ T shirts when white abusers are doing their ‘thing’? Why don’t Labour people use the available statistics to show that Reform are picking and choosing their issues based on race rather than walking into a Sunday morning media ambush? Wake up idiots!

Jeff
Jeff
17 days ago
Reply to  Fi yn unig

Also Kemi was silent after Musks attack on two elected MP’s that have done more than Kemi and her party and musk put together in this area.

Johnny
Johnny
17 days ago
Reply to  Jeff

If one of the MPs you are referring to is Jess Phillips,then Musk parroted what Jess Phillips once said about George Galloway.

Adrian
Adrian
17 days ago
Reply to  Fi yn unig

Do you have an example of a gang of white rapists having their activity covered up and enabled, for decades, by an entire public sector establishment?

Johnny
Johnny
17 days ago
Reply to  Adrian

Maybe not gangs as such but there were examples in the case of Cyril Smith and Clement Freud.

Bruce
Bruce
17 days ago
Reply to  Adrian

Urm .. Sir Jimmy? Where was the right-wing demand for an inquiry then?

David Richards
David Richards
17 days ago
Reply to  Adrian

Check out the two dozen strong west midlands ‘grooming gang’.

Tucker
Tucker
17 days ago
Reply to  Adrian

How about this gang?

1000010055
Tucker
Tucker
17 days ago
Reply to  Adrian
Tucker
Tucker
17 days ago
Reply to  Adrian

Your mate Stephen Yaxley Lennon did jail time for nearly ruining the case.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
17 days ago
Reply to  Jeff

I suppose the reason for any hesitation is that the Asian community are often associated with paedophilia & sex trafficking by the far-right. Just look at the riots recently in the NW of England after those little girls were murdered by Cardiff born Axel Rudakabana. Initially it was falsely claimed on social media he was Muslim when not. I can name numerous white paedophile gangs operating that never had fingers pointing at them for being a certain ethnicity. One Sidney Cooke comes to mind. As part of a paedophile gang in the 1970s & 80s abused, raped and murdered paperboy… Read more »

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
17 days ago

Lucy Powell has as much common sense as someone spitting into the wind. She didn’t just put her foot in her mouth, in the process kneed herself in the face.

Eric Blair
Eric Blair
17 days ago

She’ll be gone shortly and rightly so.

David Richards
David Richards
17 days ago

The political commentariat
should be more concerned with the appalling comments made by Labour MP for bassetlaw Jo White. White stated on Friday that the Starmer labour govt should ‘stop pussyfooting around and be more like Trump’ on immigration.

Dai Ponty
Dai Ponty
17 days ago

If you want to know about cover ups what about Saville Thatcher knew what he was she was told not to give the scum a knighthood by civil servants and top Tory M P,s same goes for that liberal M P he was known about Cyril Smith and Saville was friendly with the Royals especially the present King and what about the Pervert Prince Andrew his mother the late queen paid a couple of million to the lady for silence there is no smoke without fire as they say the Establishment close ranks why no riots over them

Bruce
Bruce
17 days ago
Reply to  Dai Ponty

The lesson from the Cons seems to be that child abuse is fine if the perps are white.

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