Over the last week, I watched in disgust as the Rotherham sex scandal hit the headlines and the full horror of the abuse of 1400 girls in the town was brought to light.
As far back as 2012, I was speaking about these issues and highlighted how young, (predominantly) white girls were being abused and trafficked by organised groups of often Asian and Muslim men.
As I said then: “If their attackers had been white Christians, I suspect the social services and police would have taken a very different view.”
It isn’t hard to think back to the time when Rotherham council were responsible for taking three foster children from their foster parents simply because they were UKIP supporters.
These abuses weren’t exclusive to Rotherham, it was happening across many northern towns like Oldham, Rochdale and Blackpool. I would suggest that we haven’t even scratched the surface of the true extent of these abuses.
In the Rotherham cases, it seems that the perpetrators were allowed to carry out their crimes for so long because the Labour run council, police and social services seemed to be more concerned with hitting targets and pandering to political correctness than the safety of these young women.
What type of society do we live in when the rule of law takes a back seat to abuse and criminality for fear of being labelled in a certain way?
It almost seems like councils were intentionally keeping the public in the dark about the true extent of the abuses. Now the truth has come out they are promising “lessons will be learned” and “this will never happen again” – but don’t they always say that when these horrible stories of abuse emerge?
We cannot have a situation where politicians are more worried about their careers and the reputation of the council than protecting the most vulnerable people in our society, the very people they are in fact there to serve. I am appalled at this and it is something we cannot accept.
It sickens me that there is little or no accountability for those who are implicated in these cover ups, none have been sacked, they just seem to slip away into another cushy job unnoticed.
South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright is refusing to quit his £85,000 a year job, children’s services chief Joyce Thacker is so far refusing to resign her 114k job, while Ged Fitzgerald, the most senior officer at the South Yorkshire authority between 2001 and 2003 (where the report into the abuse slammed what it called the “blatant collective failures of political and officer leadership”) is now chief executive of the Labour led Liverpool Council earning more than Prime Minister David Cameron.
I have said before that the Labour party policies of multiculturalism and political correctness have failed and rather than admit to it, they have found themselves hiding the facts in an attempt to carry these policies at all costs.
A diverse, inclusive society is good for Britain, however, we must acknowledge when it has gone wrong and not attempt to cover up its failings.
This insidious culture must be ended and the needs of victims and their families must be a top priority. These people are public servants and they must remember that.
If those in authority are to regain the trust of the public we must have a policy of absolute accountability, it is the only way we can ensure those in office are brought to task for any wrong doing.
For this reason, whistle-blowers should be encouraged and transparency promoted.
Over the years all too often we have seen people in high office left unaccountable for their mistakes whether intentional or not and this has led to a widespread abuse of power.
Political correctness has been a barrier to good practice for far too long in this country and it has been partly responsible for the situations we have been faced with recently. It shouldn’t matter whether it is the Police, Social services, councillors, politicians, bankers, or anyone else for that matter, we must all remain accountable to those we are there to serve.
Paul Nuttall is Deputy Leader of UKIP
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