Under-fire Labour minister Lucy Powell makes humiliating Commons apology after 'belittling' rape survivors by claiming grooming gangs is a 'dog whistle' issue
The Leader of the Commons sparked fury by suggesting during a radio show last week that group-based child abuse was a 'dog whistle' issue.
She faced calls to resign over the remarks, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer backed her after accepting her apology.
Ms Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central, reiterated her apology this morning in her first appearance at the Commons' despatch box since the row erupted.
She said in a message to survivors and victims: '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.
'Your 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.
'I would never want 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.'
The issue of group-based child abuse - including by gangs of Pakistani origin - was put back into the spotlight after Labour denied a request for a new Whitehall-led inquiry.
The Government has instead favoured locally-led probes, although Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a 'rapid audit' into the scale of the issue across Britain.
During an appearance on a BBC Radio 4's Any Questions last Friday, Ms Powell was asked by Tim Montgomerie, a Reform UK member and political commentator, if she had seen a recent Channel 4 TV documentary on grooming gangs.
She responded: 'Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we... let's get that dog whistle out shall we'.
Sarah Wilson, a victim of the Rotherham scandal, said Ms Powell's comments showed what survivors have been 'up against all these years' and why they have not been 'listened to – they never cared and never will'.
Speaking in the Commons today, Ms Powell promised the Government would 'leave no stone unturned' in pursuing child grooming gangs.
During business questions, Tory MP Katie Lam asked Ms Powell: 'Many members of the grooming and rape gangs that systematically abused white working-class girls have never faced justice, and neither have the councillors, officials and police officers suspected of collusion and cover-up.
'So, can we have a debate on the need for a national inquiry into these disgusting crimes, and will the Leader tell us please who exactly it is she believes is using these horrors as a, I quote, 'dog whistle'?'
Ms Powell replied: 'We are all, everybody up and down this country, horrified about the crimes that have been committed over many, many years by despicable grooming gangs
'And that is why we first and foremost are implementing the many, many recommendations from the recent inquiries, many of which, most of which in fact, sat on the shelf until the general election last year.
'Those recommendations include issues like mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, something that I have campaigned on, the PM, the Home Secretary and the Safeguarding minister (Jess Phillips) have campaigned on for many, many years.
'We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the truth and justice and accountability is got wherever it is needed for those victims of these terrible atrocities.'
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