Government "turning its back" on child abuse victims

Ms Champion spoke out after the Government turned down a £6 million bid for a four-year project to support those groomed and raped in the town between 1997 and 2013 — the period covered by the Jay Report.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, she said: “In Rotherham, we have hundreds of new cases of child sexual exploitation and thousands of survivors who have not received support or justice.

“Two weeks ago, the Home Office rejected our application for additional funding for victims and survivors.”

Ms Champion asked Victoria Atkins, the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism, to meet her and representatives of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and South Yorkshire Police to discuss a solution. 

She added: “Following the publication of the Jay report, I worked hard to ensure that appropriate funding would be made available to support survivors of child abuse in Rotherham. I received clear assurances that it would be.

“We owe it to survivors of abuse in Rotherham to do everything that we can to support them and to bring perpetrators to justice. The Government cannot simply turn its back on them.”