Labour peer Maurice Glasman has joined forces with Nigel Farage to back a parliamentary bill that calls for a statutory inquiry into the abuse gangs scandal.
Along with several Tory frontbenchers, the cross-party group will demand a national public inquiry into the crisis.
The coalition of a Labour peer with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK will set off alarm bells in Labour HQ ahead of this week’s local elections.
Backing the bill, Lord Glasman said: “The gangs are still operating. The British public expect action so the police and other services finally get a grip of this disgrace.
I support an Inquiry to get to the truth and improve how all parts of the state deal with sexual abuse of children”.
Farage added: “Labour and Tories have failed on the grooming gangs. They have failed to bring justice to the thousands of victims across multiple decades of these horrific crimes.
“They have failed to hold anyone in authority to account for years of cover-ups and failure. We must have a comprehensive inquiry that no authority or offender can hide from.
“We must stop the judges keeping these criminal trials secret, an outrageous recent development that the Government ignores. We must have a national inquiry so we stop the gangs that are still organising the sexual abuse of children today.”
GB News also understands that many Labour MPs have given their support to the bill in principle but are wary of publicly breaking with the frontbench, especially ahead of Thursday’s vote.
One Labour figure indicated that they would back the bill after the elections had concluded.
The grooming gangs issue returned to national prominence in January when GB News revealed that the shadow safeguarding minister Jess Phillips had rejected a request for a government-led inquiry in Oldham.
Keir Starmer resisted calls for an inquiry, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announcing that Baroness Louise Casey would conduct a rapid three-month audit of group-based exploitation. Cooper also announced that the government would fund five local inquiries and develop a new framework under the direction of barrister Tom Crowther KC, but immediately before Easter, Jess Philips backed down from the enquiries.