PMQs: The grooming gangs retort from Sir Keir Starmer that even won praise from the SNP

The first Prime Minister’s Questions of the year was always going to be a heated session, following the row between the two main parties over the grooming gang scandal.

Just how ugly the debate would get was made clear overnight, after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would table an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons | House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

In the broadcast round on Wednesday morning, UK education minister Bridget Phillipson had claimed “the single biggest piece of children safeguarding legislation in a generation” was now liable to be sacrificed “on the altar of political opportunism”.

Mrs Badenoch’s amendment to the Bill calls for ministers “to develop new legislative proposals for children’s wellbeing, including establishing a national statutory inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation, focused on grooming gangs”. If it was passed, the amendment would halt the progress of the Bill, which includes measures aimed at improving safeguarding for children.

These were the battlegrounds going into the chamber - the Tories wanting a vote for a fresh inquiry, Labour saying there had been one, and a looming vote for the changes to improve children’s safety.

Clashing in the Commons, Mrs Badenoch warned that failing to back an inquiry would fuel concerns about a “cover-up”, prompting groans from MPs. Her line of attack will go down well with voters, and portrays the Tories as a party on the side of the victims.

Unfortunately for her, however, Sir Keir Starmer came prepared, making points that even drew praise afterwards from SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.

The Prime Minister called for MPs to back his bill | House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

Responding, the Prime Minister claimed the Conservative leader had “jumped on the bandwagon” about grooming gangs, but while in office as children’s minister and equalities minister, he said: “I can’t recall her once raising this issue in the House, once calling for a national inquiry.” Mrs Badenoch could only retort that she had done so in speeches, before insisting she had met victims of other scandals, citing those who had transitioned.

The Conservative leader also urged Sir Keir to be a “leader, not a lawyer” - a frequent line of attack from former prime minister Boris Johnson. Ms Badenoch then criticised the Labour party for adopting the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) definition of Islamophobia, claiming it said talking about sex groomers was an example of Islamophobia.

However, Scottish Labour MP Blair McDougall pointed out this was not true, accusing her of selectively quoting on Bluesky. Referencing the full quote, he explained it actually said it warned against “characterising Muslims as being ‘sex groomers’, inherently violent or incapable of living harmoniously in plural societies”. It was not as she represented it.

In short, the debate showed the two parties having very different conversations, with framing at the heart of it, rather than genuine disagreements over policy.

Both parties are angry at the scandal of grooming gangs. Labour wants to implement recommendations from the previous inquiry, that the Tory Government did not, and pass Bills now to improve children’s wellbeing.

The Tories argue this isn’t enough, that another inquiry is needed with a wider scope. That is not an unfair argument. But the mud-slinging did not show anything like the best of Parliament.