Streeting warns of violence over grooming gang claims

Health secretary highlights New Zealand mosque killings and rejects Elon Musk’s call for inquiry into child abuse

Pippa Crerar

The use of inflammatory language over grooming gangs risks vilifying entire communities and could lead to atrocities such as the mosque massacre in New Zealand that killed more than 50 people, the UK health secretary has warned. Wes Streeting said he had “no difficulty or qualms” in calling out “sickening” crimes of sexual abuse gangs, criticising “well meaning, but fundamentally misguided and warped views of political correctness” for letting down thousands of children. But in an interview with the Guardian, the Ilford North MP said: “At the same time, there are people in my community who have either Pakistani heritage or look different, who are now more fearful today than they were before.” After a week in which Elon Musk’s erratic tirades against the UK government dominated the news agenda,…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 17 January 2025

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