MP Jon Pearce Column: "It is shameful to play politics with the safeguarding of our children from sexual abuse"

It is just six short months since I had the honour of my life being sworn in as the MP for High Peak. It has flown by. But in other ways it feels like a lifetime ago. Despite having never stood for parliament before I thought I knew what I was letting myself in for. I did not.

Before all this I was an intensely private family man. The extraordinary amount of misinformation created (whether unintentionally or sadly otherwise) and shared has been truly shocking.

It reached a new low last week relating to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and an amendment calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs. The Bill is the single biggest piece of children’s safeguarding legislation in a generation. It includes important changes that will tackle children vanishing from education and measures to require local councils to adopt a multi-agency approach to safeguarding children. It is also delivers on our manifesto commitment to make sure every primary school child has access to a free breakfast club.

The Conservatives put down a wrecking amendment to the Bill calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs. Had their amendment passed it would have killed the Bill but, importantly, not delivered an inquiry. They knew we could never vote to destroy a Bill containing our own manifesto commitments. It was pure self-serving politics.

My kids are my world and there is a special place in hell for anyone that abuses a child. If there is a case for a further national inquiry that will help victims and bring these paedophiles to justice, then let’s have that debate.

But we have already had a national inquiry into child sex abuse. It was set up by the Conservatives in 2015. It took seven years to complete and cost £200 million. It made twenty recommendations. The Conservatives did not implement a single one of them.

Professor Jay, the Report’s author, has said we should get on and implement the recommendations to safeguard children now, not delay with another inquiry. That is exactly what we are doing.

The Conservatives did not act on this issue in Government. So why are they raising it now? Because the richest man on the planet (who despite knowing nothing about it) tweeted about it. I’ve watched my fair share of Bond movies and Elon Musk is a moon laser away from holding the world to ransom.

We should be standing up to someone who is trying to interfere not just in our government but the governments in Germany and around the world - not rolling over like the Conservatives in the hope he might tickle their tummy or bung them a few quid.