- Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford speaks in landmark debate in Parliament on grooming gangs, declaring: "Our local authorities must never fail our children again"
- Rotherham area became infamously linked with grooming gangs following the exposure of the Child Sexual Exploitation scandal in the last decade
Rother Valley MP, Alexander Stafford, today delivered an impassioned speech during the landmark debate on grooming gangs in Parliament. His constituency Rother Valley is a part of an area with one of the most damning and distressing records on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Rotherham.
Over a period of 20 years, 1500 children were systematically abused while Local Authorities failed to act and refused to protect them.
Since his election, Alexander has been working closely with local whistle-blower, activist and CSE survivor, Sammy Woodhouse, to pass new legislation to ensure no child is ever penalised for actions they did not freely commit.
Alexander said:
We all remember the widespread atrocities that occurred in the Rotherham area, which our Rother Valley community is a part of.
What happened there is a mark of shame that we as a country shall all bear until every single perpetrator and enabler faces justice.
What made this abuse all the more outrageous is the silent complicity of the local authorities who are supposed to serve to protect us.
We must never again allow such things to happen to our children.
We must never again allow those who enabled such monstrous acts to hold any authority in our society.
We must leave no stone unturned in our fight for justice and I am calling on all my colleagues to help pass new legislation to ensure no child is ever penalised for actions they had not freely committed again.
