Sir Keir Starmer was on Wednesday night accused of an “act of cowardice” after Labour MPs lined up to block a national inquiry into grooming gangs. MPs voted by 364 votes to 111 against Kemi Badenoch’s call for a new probe into the scandal in which dozens of vulnerable girls were abused,

The draft legislation passed its first Commons hurdle in a vote on Wednesday following a bitter Prime Minister’s Questions.

Lawmakers from the ruling Labour Party have slammed the opposition for attempting to kill the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill by tabling an amendment that would force the new inquiry, while blocking the bill at the same time.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer he risks fuelling accusations of "a cover up" by refusing to hold a national inquiry into grooming gangs. She also accused the PM of not wanting questions asked "of Labour politicians who may be complicit".

The United Kingdom’s Labour Party blocked a Conservative Party amendment that would have forced a nationwide inquiry into the decades-long

Victims want action today, the Prime Minister said, as the Tory leader repeated demands for a national inquiry into rape gangs

A push for another national inquiry into grooming gangs, which the Prime Minister labelled as a "wrecking amendment", has been rejected following a vote by MPs. The Government’s draft child protection legislation cleared its first Commons hurdle on Wednesday following a bitter Prime Minister’s Questions in which Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said failing to back a probe would fuel concerns about a “cover-up”.

The vote follows a fierce debate earlier in the day between the prime minister and the Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch.