Blackpool Council was one of three local authorities accused in the House of Commons of ‘trying to suppress the truth’ about child sexual exploitation.

In a jousting debate with Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the national inquiry into grooming gangs this week, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch named the resort’s Labour council as one which failed to be transparent about the issue.

Her comments were taken up by Cllr Paul Galley, leader of Blackpool Council’s Conservatives, who said the council had a record of “delay, denial and damage control” on the issue.

Cllr Paul Galley and Cllr Neal Brookes have previously clashed on the issue of child sexual exploitation in Blackpool | Third party

placeholder image — Cllr Paul Galley and Cllr Neal Brookes have previously clashed on the issue of child sexual exploitation in Blackpool | Third party

Cllr Galley published a detailed report on child sexual exploitation in the resort, earlier this year and had called for Blackpoolo to be included in the national grooming gangs probe.

Blackpool Council has not responded to the comments of Ms Badenoch or Cllr Galley.

But in a full council meeting in July, the authority’s deputy leader, Neal Brooks, blasted Cllr Galley for trying to make political capital out of the issue, stating that until relatively recently, the Conservative member had not mentioned the issue in 14 years of being a councillor.

And Cllr Galley was also accused of ignoring the work of the acclaimed Awaken multi agency team, which has been tackling child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the resort following the police probe into the disappearance of teenager Charlene Downes in November 2003, whom police said was a victim of sexual exploitation.

Cllr Brookes also said that Blackpool Council HAD written to the Government, asking for the town to be included in the national inquiry.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Ms Badenoch said that Mr Starmer’s government did not want a national inquiry and she said Labour run councils in Bradford, Stretford and Blackpool had “tried to suppress the truth" about the level of child sexual exploitation in their areas.

Kemi Badenoch mentioned Blackpool Council in a Commons debate about grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation | Third party

Cllr Galley said: “Kemi Badenoch is absolutely right to call this out. Blackpool’s Labour-run Council has a record of delay, denial, and damage control when it comes to protecting our most vulnerable children.

“In January, Labour councillors in Blackpool voted vehemently against holding a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation, an inquiry that would have shone a light on the truth and given victims the voice they deserve.

“It was only months later, after my report exposed the scale of the issue and forced them into a U-turn, that they suddenly changed course — not because of moral conviction, but because the national Labour leadership under Ke StarmStarm, following Baroness Casey’s findings, made it politically impossible for them not to.

“Leadership is about doing the right thing when it’s hard, not when your party tells you to. Blackpool deserves a council that stands up for victims, acts transparently, and never hides behind party lines.”

In the full council meeting in July, Cllr Jim Hobson, Cabinet Member for Children's Services , said Cllr Galley’s report wilfully omitted the highly-rated work of the Awaken multi-agency team, which works together to reduce the prevalence and impact of child exploitation in Blackpool.

Cllr Hobson said: “Most disappointingly, Cllr Galley has not spoken to our officers before rushing to publish his report. Had he done so, they would have said they do not recognise some of the figures quoted in that report.

"Child sexual exploitation (CSE)is just a small percentage of the figure quoted by Co Galley. Have no doubt, we accept and acknowledge that CSE is a problem in Blackpool but it is a problem in every town and city in this country.

“The Government has now said there will be a national Inquiry and I will be writing to the Home Secretary to be a part of that and also ask him to look at Blackpool as an area of excellence.”

At the Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on October 22, 2025, Mr Starmer and Ms Badenoch clashed intensely over the government’s inquiry into grooming gangs.

The confrontation was prompted by news that four abuse survivors had resigned from the inquiry’s victims’ panel, raising concerns that the investigation was being “watered down”.

Mr Starmer hit back and said the Conservatives had ignored the issue in their years in power.