Over the last few weeks I have deliberately not given any in-depth interviews about the farce of the Labour selection for the Rother Valley parliamentary seat. Tonight’s announcement that the candidate has resigned only a couple of weeks after being selected is a shocking indictment of the process. That anyone who was forced to resign over the Council cover-up and denial of child sexual exploitation could even be considered by the local Labour Party is, to quote one of the survivors, “a complete betrayal”.
My inbox has been flooded over the past weeks by residents and survivors who were horrified by this selection process. Labour nationally allowed this candidate to stand, and the local Rother Valley Labour party chose him. They all continued to back him, even now. When will any member of the Rother Valley Labour Party ever stand up for the victims? The hallmark of any functioning democracy is a robust opposition, and with any candidate so tainted by this black mark in our local history, proper politics could not carry on, so it is right he has resigned.
I have repeatedly raised child sexual exploitation in Parliament and said that no one who is linked in any way to these horrific crimes should hold any position of authority – and I continue to stand by this, and stand with the victims of these heinous crimes.
However, the fact it has taken weeks of national media scrutiny to finally see the candidate resign belies the rot locally in Labour politics. This latest scandal is on top of a prominent member of the Rother Valley Labour Party being interviewed by South Yorkshire Police for harassing my wife and two children, one of whom was only six months at the time. This member STILL remains in place in the local Labour Party and was helping in the selection process.
It is clear that the Rother Valley Labour Party is rotten to its very core and not fit for purpose. It has inculcated a culture of bullying, cover ups, scandal and incompetence. Rother Valley deserves better. Rotherham deserves better – and I will always fight for a better, more open Rother Valley.
