GB News anchors Miriam Cates and Ben Leo had to abruptly cut their programme for an urgent update signalling potential woes for Keir Starmer.
Miriam informed the audience: “Welcome back, we’ve got some breaking news. Wigan Council has voted for a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal, breaking with the Labour government’s opinion.”
The broadcast then switched to political correspondent Charlie Peters who reported that independent councillor Maureen O’Bern proposed the motion. He recounted that Labour councillors left the session, claiming it had extended for too long.
Charlie continued: “However, after significant pressure from the local area, they reorganised the motion for a full council meeting today and the motion was voted through unanimously.”
Charlie confirmed the vote tally: “So that’s 64 Labour councillors, 10 independent councillor and one Conservative,” and he highlighted that O’Bern wasn’t allowed to speak during the meet—an atypical procedure, reports the Express.
Miriam showed gratitude to Charlie and remarked: “I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on this. This really undermines the government’s position that there should be local inquiries if even local authorities recognise this is inadequate.”
Ben questioned the fallout from this development: “What are the implications of this? Is this going to put pressure on Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper and the Labour government? Do they care?”
Miriam clearly stated: “They’re going to have to.”
She argued: “Given how implicated so many local councils are in this scandal, it does seem ridiculous that these inquiries should be locally led because how can anybody local be objective?”
Her fellow panelist Ben weighed in, commenting, “For me, it’s just another example of how Starmer, who is at the top of the chain so I’ll name him, just don’t get it. They don’t get the mood of the nation,” as he called on the Labour leadership to “listen to the victims”.
In related developments, Yvette Cooper announced an impending national three-month audit, to be spearheaded by Dame Louise Casey, designed to delve into the “cultural and societal drivers” behind child sexual exploitation. Cooper also provided assurance that additional victims would have the opportunity to see their cases reopened for review.
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