Samantha Smith@SamanthaTaghoy
Dear voters,
This is who your vote is going to. This kind of politician that Labour puts in power:
Meet Shaun Davies.
Former Leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, now the Labour MP for Telford.
Shaun oversaw the systemic failure of thousands of little girls at the hands of Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs.
For years, he and the council he led downplayed the severity and scale of CSE in Telford and attempted to block an independent inquiry.
If anyone should be held responsible for the modern culture of ignorance, victim-blaming, and indifference within the Council (as highlighted in the IITCSE investigation) it is Davies.
Yet, he barely offered an apology, let alone took responsibility for his, his Cabinet’s, and his Council’s failure to protect vulnerable girls.
On the day that the IITCSE Report was published, Shaun was noticeably silent.
He gave no public statement and blatantly distanced himself from the findings.
He later stated that: “I was three years of age at the time” CSE was going on, as well as trying to emphasise that it was historic and imply that this was all ‘before his time’.
This isn’t true.
CSE was, and is still, going on in Telford.
Davies was in the Cabinet from 2011.
He served as Leader from 2016.
He was part of the establishment.
He was part of the problem.
He coordinated a letter which was co-signed by 9 other powerful local men (dubbed the ‘Telford Ten’) to Amber Rudd, then the Home Secretary, stating that it was “not necessary” for an independent inquiry into CSE in Telford.
He instead claimed that the Alexis Jay inquiry into child sexual abuse (which didn’t cover Telford or go into detail about other CSE ‘hotspots’) would suffice.
He only later backtracked due to significant public pressure.
He supported members of his Cabinet who were directly responsible for the failings. Indeed, many of the key players in the Telford CSE scandal are still serving in positions of authority in Telford and elsewhere to this day.
The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services at the time, Paul Watling, reportedly publicly called the journalist responsible for breaking the Telford story ‘despicable and said she was ‘inventing the scale of the abuse in order to sell a survivor’s book’.
Another signatory of Council Leader’s letter to the Home Secretary, Andrew Mason, reportedly said the story was ‘made up on the back of a fag packet,’ while a different Labour councillor said that it was “sensationalised scaremongering”.
And Davies’ attempts to distance himself from the failings that he was part of – indeed, that he was integral to – simply don’t hold up.
It is my belief that he has only avoided scrutiny for this long because of the influential position he held in the Council.
Even the implementation of the IITCSE Report (which heavily criticised Council leadership) was being overseen in-part by Davies (albeit as part of the complex implementation committee structures).
Like in other Rochdale, Rotherham and elsewhere, Davies and other local men were essentially granted the power to mark their own homework.
And now, he holds even greater power and influence as Telford’s MP. Despite the fact that concerns were raised before his election due to his involvement in the CSE scandal and continued refusal to acknowledge his Council’s failings.
Labour continues to promote the very people who ignored little girls being abused.
Davies and his Council turned a blind eye for far too long. In my opinion, no one that played a part in, or ignored, the cover-up of child grooming and exploitation is fit for office.
Shaun Davies wasn’t an innocent bystander. He was part of the problem.
He knew.
He did everything in his power to cover it up and save face. And now he and politicians like him have the audacity to exploit the little girls they failed, claiming to represent us?
He is unfit for office, and unfit for public life.
Don’t give them more power.
Don’t vote for men like Davies.
Don’t vote for Labour.