“Sandwell Labour Cannot Preach Protection While Denying Justice

 “Sandwell Labour Cannot Preach Protection While Denying Justice”

#Sandwell #Safeguarding #GroomingGangs #VAWG #ChildProtection #Accountability

For years, survivors of grooming gangs and organised child sexual exploitation have called for truth, justice and transparency. Not slogans. Not performative activism. Not PR campaigns designed to soothe public opinion without confronting institutional failure.

Yet here in Sandwell, we are faced with the uncomfortable reality that the very same Labour Group now loudly promoting “Sandwell Stands” — their highly-publicised violence against women and girls (VAWG) campaign — once refused to support a motion calling on the Government to establish a National Statutory Inquiry into grooming gangs and the rape and exploitation of girls.

#SandwellCouncil #Labour

The moral contradiction is stark.

The hypocrisy is undeniable.

The consequences are profound.

#CSE #JusticeForSurvivors

White Ribbon, Reclaim the Night – and Selective Memory

As the council marks White Ribbon Day and the 16 Days of Activism, lighting civic buildings orange and encouraging public solidarity, one unavoidable truth remains:

You cannot champion women’s safety today while running from accountability yesterday.

#WhiteRibbon #16DaysOfActivism

The survivors of grooming gang abuse — many of them still living with unimaginable trauma — needed this council to stand up, not step aside. They needed the Labour leadership to demand an inquiry that would expose systemic failures and deliver justice. Instead, they were met with avoidance. Deflection. And, in some cases, outright dismissal.

#SurvivorsDeserveBetter

Political Cowardice Disguised as “Measured Leadership”

When the call for a national inquiry was debated locally, Labour councillors chose the comfortable option: a diluted, self-affirming motion about Sandwell’s “commitment” to tackling CSE. What they didn’t choose was courage.

They did not choose to stand with victims.

They did not choose to demand a national reckoning.

They did not choose the path of truth.

And nationally, Labour MPs failed to back an amendment that would have forced the inquiry into law. Only when the political pressure became overwhelming did the national party U-turn.

#PoliticalFailure

Even now, the very inquiry Labour reluctantly conceded has fallen into crisis: survivor walk-outs, resignations, political interference, and a process stalling under the stewardship of Jess Phillips. The inquiry survivors fought for has been allowed to drift into chaos under Labour’s own government.

#InquiryCrisis #JessPhillips

And Then Came the Smears

To make matters worse, certain politicians — including independents and former Conservative councillors now seeking new identities — dismissed calls for a national inquiry as “far-right dog-whistling.”

These comments were not only ignorant; they were insulting. They trivialised the suffering of victims. They dismissed legitimate demands for justice. They attempted to reframe a moral duty as a political manoeuvre.

Such rhetoric does not protect survivors; it silences them.

It does not challenge extremism; it fuels institutional protectionism.

It does not safeguard children; it protects the systems that failed them.

#FarRightDogWhistle #VictimSilencing

These individuals should reflect deeply on the damage caused by using survivors as political shields.

This Is Bigger Than Politics

We cannot continue with a model of governance that produces slogans instead of safeguards, campaigns instead of courage, and selective outrage instead of unflinching accountability.

White Ribbon Day, Sandwell Stands, VAWG awareness — these initiatives matter. They have value. They deserve respect. But they mean nothing if they are used as moral cover to avoid the very accountability survivors have been fighting for.

#EndCSE #TruthAndJustice

The girls who were abused, ignored, and abandoned by institutions deserve far more than a public-relations cycle. They deserve a fully resourced, fully empowered national inquiry that puts their voices at the centre. They deserve political leadership willing to stand with them when it matters — not just when the cameras are rolling.

#SupportSurvivors

A Call for Honesty and Accountability

If Sandwell Labour wants credibility, they must confront this contradiction openly. That means:

Acknowledging their refusal to back a national inquiry.

Reaffirming support for a survivor-led, statutory investigation.

Accepting that their past decisions damaged trust.

Ending the culture of political self-protection.

Anything less is just more of the same.

#AccountabilityNow #LabourInSandwell

Sandwell deserves leadership that stands with survivors before the press releases go out.

Because justice is not a hashtag.

Safeguarding is not a slogan.

And the fight against violence towards women and girls is meaningless without confronting the failures that let predators operate with impunity.

#NoMoreExcuses