U.K. MPs back tougher safeguards for children amid grooming row
The Hindu
UK lawmakers pass Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, enhancing safeguards for home-schooled children post Sara Sharif's murder.
U.K. lawmakers on Wednesday (January 8, 2025) backed better safeguards for home-schooled children following the brutal murder of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl, in a vote overshadowed by the recent row over grooming gangs.
MPs progressed the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to the next stage of the parliamentary process without the need for a further formal vote.
That came after MPs rejected an amendment that threatened to derail the legislation.
The opposition Conservative party had sought to use the debate to force the establishment of a new national inquiry into sex offences dating back decades against children in northern England.
Controversy has swirled around the issue over the past week after U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk made repeated incendiary attacks against Britain's Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer about it on his X platform.
Mr. Starmer has rejected calls for a new inquiry, arguing it is time for "action" to implement the almost two dozen recommendations made in an earlier seven-year-long inquiry with a broader focus.
He said on Wednesday that the children's bill, which would require all local authorities to hold a register of children who are not in school, forms part of wider efforts to protect vulnerable youngsters.
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UK lawmakers pass Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, enhancing safeguards for home-schooled children post Sara Sharif's murder.
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