The UK Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, has been under fire from grooming gang victims after a radio show in which she downplayed the topic.
In an episode of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’ back on May 2, Labour MP Powell interrupted presenter Tim Montgomerie, when he commented on a Channel 4 documentary ‘about rape gangs’.
She replied: ‘Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Yeah, OK, let’s get that dog whistle out’.
Conservative Jesse Norman called on her to ‘put aside party politics’ and apologize.
The Telegraph reported:
“She replied: ‘Can I actually thank him for raising with me what I said in an episode of Any Questions last week, so I can be absolutely clear with the House today, especially to the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and grooming gangs, that I am very sorry for those remarks’.
‘As I made clear over the weekend, I and every member of this Government want your truth to be heard, wherever that truth leads. Their truly appalling experiences need to be acted on for those responsible to be accountable and face the full force of the law and for justice to be served’.”
Not content with ignoring rape victims’ calls to sack Lucy Powell after her disgusting remarks, Keir Starmer placed her next to him at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday to really rub salt into the wounds.
This psychology is not normal. pic.twitter.com/ThObj8ss3q
— Anthony Boutall (@anthonyboutall) May 8, 2025
“’I would never want Mr. Speaker to leave the impression that these very serious, profound and far-reaching issues which I have campaigned on for many years should be shied away from and not aired – far from it. No stone will be left unturned and what the victims want first and foremost is for action to be taken and for the many, many recommendations from the previous inquiries to be implemented in full including mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse something I have called for for nearly a decade’.”
It’s been almost a week after Powell’s remarks.
“’Every police force in England and Wales has been asked to look again at historic grooming gangs cases and they will be reopened where it is appropriate to get perpetrators behind bars… I hope the House is left in no doubt of my commitment to these issues, and my apology to those victims for any distress I have caused’.”
“I am very sorry for those remarks”
Labour MP Lucy Powell apologises for her appalling remarks about the Pakistani grooming gangs.
Too little too late. She’s only sorry because she said what she and her colleagues really thought. Apologising won’t be enough. Resign! pic.twitter.com/JjKIUoTR36
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) May 8, 2025
An unnamed Labour MP has called for Starmer to dismiss her from his Cabinet in the wake of the scandal.
“The MP said: ‘Why is she still there? I honestly don’t know how she kept her job. I’m largely happy with the Cabinet as it is, but Lucy needs to be sacked’.”
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