Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell has sought to clarify her remarks after she appeared to describe grooming gangs as a “dog whistle” issue, prompting a backlash from political opponents.During a heated debate on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions on Friday, commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if she had seen a recent Channel 4 documentary on grooming gangs.Powell responded “oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we” and “let’s get that dog whistle out shall we”. But on Saturday, the Labour minister said she regarded child exploitation and grooming with the “utmost seriousness”, adding: “I’m sorry if this was unclear.”Powell said: “I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself. As a constituency MP I’ve dealt with horrendous cases.”During the political debate programme, Montgomerie was asked about Reform UK’s pledge to replicate the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – including by cutting diversity and inclusions roles within councils, following its successes in Thursday’s local elections. Montgomerie said the UK was “one of the most tolerant [countries] in the world”, but argued there “always needs to be more progress on racial issues”.He said: “It’s not so much the amount of money that is spent on employing diversity officers. “You talk to a lot of civil servants, the amount of time they now have to spend monitoring this issue [of diversity] above all others is an extraordinary diversion.”Powell called his claims “absolutely rubbish”, and told Montgomerie to go and spend a day with council staff to “actually see what they’re dealing with”. Montgomerie then asked Powell if sh …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnLeader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell has sought to clarify her remarks after she appeared to describe grooming gangs as a “dog whistle” issue, prompting a backlash from political opponents.During a heated debate on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions on Friday, commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if she had seen a recent Channel 4 documentary on grooming gangs.Powell responded “oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we” and “let’s get that dog whistle out shall we”. But on Saturday, the Labour minister said she regarded child exploitation and grooming with the “utmost seriousness”, adding: “I’m sorry if this was unclear.”Powell said: “I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself. As a constituency MP I’ve dealt with horrendous cases.”During the political debate programme, Montgomerie was asked about Reform UK’s pledge to replicate the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – including by cutting diversity and inclusions roles within councils, following its successes in Thursday’s local elections. Montgomerie said the UK was “one of the most tolerant [countries] in the world”, but argued there “always needs to be more progress on racial issues”.He said: “It’s not so much the amount of money that is spent on employing diversity officers. “You talk to a lot of civil servants, the amount of time they now have to spend monitoring this issue [of diversity] above all others is an extraordinary diversion.”Powell called his claims “absolutely rubbish”, and told Montgomerie to go and spend a day with council staff to “actually see what they’re dealing with”. Montgomerie then asked Powell if sh …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
