The Liberal Democrats have called for Kemi Badencoh to sack Robert Jenrick for his controversial comments about immigrants “from alien cultures”.
After the Tory leader previously defended Robert Jenrick’s initial comments and Conservative MPs privately shared discontent, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper is now uring him to be dropped for Badenoch’s top team.
The shadow justice secretary told Times Radio: “What I have said is that millions of people have come into our country in recent times, but some of them are coming from countries and cultures that have backwards attitudes to women. And that’s backed up by the evidence that we have seen from the Jay report and the testimonies of the victims.
“Pakistani men are over-represented in those who are involved in the grooming gangs, and the evidence we have seen is that some of those have specifically preyed upon white, working-class girls because they viewed them as worthless.”
However, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse by professor Alexis Jay found no evidence that Pakistani men were disproportionately represented. The inquiry said it was “impossible to know whether any particular ethnic group is over-represented” as perpetrators of child sexual exploitation by networks because data does not exist.
The Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, said: “Robert Jenrick’s attempt to exploit this appalling scandal for his own political gain is completely shameless. He didn’t lift a finger to help the victims when a minister, now he’s jumping on the bandwagon and acting like a pound shop Farage.
“Kemi Badenoch should sack him as shadow justice secretary and condemn his divisive comments, instead of letting him run a leadership campaign under her nose.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 today, Jenrick refused to back down from his original comments.
Challenged on whether he was saying that Britain should bar immigration from certain countries, he said: “I think that it is very difficult to successfully integrate the very large numbers of people who we have had coming into our country in recent years. We should be open about that,” he said.
Asked if he was speaking specifically about Pakistan when he described a “medieval attitude to women,” he added: “I think some people who come from that country do. I’m not saying everybody.
“I’ve always said that point, made by Kemi Badenoch, the leader of my party, that not all cultures are equal. We should be very careful about who is coming into this country and the scale of immigration.”
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