LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Lies, bullying and CSE shame of town’s Labour councillors

What has amused me during this debacle is that the Rotherham Labour Party, with “Jamie” the assumed-official Rother Valley Labour Party spokesperson (whoever the unelected “Jamie” is), demanding Conservatives take action for the moral failings of the PM.

While I accept that it is the role of the official national opposition to oppose the government, I just wish that the Labour party had locally found this same moral compass to speak out during the years of child sexual exploitation (CSE), or indeed even speak out now.

Last month, the long awaited IOPC report failed to give victims of CSE any real justice, Rotherham Labour councillors and MPs lined up to voice their disgust at the failed opportunity.

My question is how they dare criticise the police for failing to discipline police officers over the CSE failings, when current serving Labour councillors who stayed silent during the years of horrific abuse and who have never apologised, still remain in positions of authority? Victims of CSE have never been given a full explanation of the role of Labour councillors during the scandal, nor have they been given an explanation why a councillor (Gordon Watson) that denied on television the Casey Report conclusions, was subsequently promoted by the current leader to be his deputy.

While Cllr Watson was defeated in the last local elections, three Labour councillors who occupy the important positions of chair of planning, ethics and scrutiny, and licencing committees all attended the infamous councillor seminar on CSE back in 2005. All three knew what was happening to Rotherham’s children yet stayed silent. Two of these have never publicly voiced any regret or apologised. All now claim thousands a year in allowances for their roles, while the victims of abuse have had to fight the council tooth and nail for compensation.

Two other current Labour councillors were forced to resign as cabinet members when the Casey report declared that the council was not fit for purpose. One of those is now back serving in the cabinet. The other was back in the cabinet until recently, the same councillor who closely worked with disgraced former leader Roger Stone, now removing all reference from their job at that time from their LinkedIn profile. There is no record of any apology or contrition from either councillor.

How can they criticise any other politician for silence, when this is what has defined Rotherham Labour for the last 20 years.

Prominent survivors such as Elizabeth have vocally criticised the current Leader of the Council for how he has treated the victims. Whistleblower Jayne Senior spoke out about the culture of bullying within the Labour group that led her to leave the party in 2021.

At the last local election in Rotherham, it was reported in this paper the dubious deflective comments one of the Labour candidates in the ward I live, Jo Carr in Anston, had said about CSE. What happened to her? Nothing, she was still allowed to stand for Labour.

Sarah Champion gets some credit for campaigning hard on the issue of child exploitation, yet it is noticeable that the outrage she had for the IOPC report has never been that strong when any mention of Labour councillors are in the discussion. Where are her calls for the Labour councillors who stayed silent while children were raped in the town to resign and be stripped of Labour membership? She vocally and fairly expects the police to have acted better, but I can see no record of her highlighting the failings of the current serving Labour councillors. Indeed, she is very happy to hit the campaign trail with said councillors and pose for pictures alongside them.

So, if Labour want the moral high, they need to look internally first. They need a proper clear out of all those associated and discredited by the CSE scandal, reflect openly and transparently on their collective failings and only then will they be in a position to criticise any other organisation.

I could also do a case study of the current political campaign strategy of the Rotherham Labour party which is based on mistruths, lies, smears, personal attacks and negativity. How can anyone believe a Labour party bereft of their own morality who will lie at will for political gain. Surely the good people of Rotherham deserve better.

J Smith, North Anston