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How dare you.
I grew up in Telford and was sexually abused for over a decade under a Labour council.
Countless little girls like me were failed by Labour politicians like you.
If you want to know how Labour REALLY treats abuse survivors, here’s my story:
As many other girls in Telford have also testified, I was made to feel as though I was to blame. The system criminalised the victims, rather than going after the perpetrators.
I remember being asked by a detective whether I “consented” at any point to sexual activity, and told by a social worker that “my actions had led me to where I was today”.
All the while, the Labour-led council tried to block an independent inquiry into CSE for years and their Council Leader (now the MP for Telford), along with 10 other powerful local men, even wrote a letter to the Home Secretary saying they felt an inquiry would unnecessary.
Little girls in Telford were branded child prostitutes and p*ki shaggers…
…by West Mercia Police and local Labour councillors, no less.
In Rotherham, Rochdale, Banbury and elsewhere — all Labour-led areas — victims were continually swept aside by those in positions of power, as if they chose this lifestyle. The attitudes that social workers, local services, authorities had towards children was so skewed, and so deeply unprofessional.
My abuse continued for years, at the hands of multiple different men throughout my childhood and teen years.
Eventually, I confided in a social worker and filed a police report detailing the years of abuse that I had experienced.
And my case, like 96.5 per cent of all sex crime cases in the UK, never resulted in prosecution. I was told that there was an unrealistic prospect of conviction against any of my abusers, due to the historic nature of my case.
I spent years in silence because I thought I would somehow be judged or penalised for the abuse I had suffered. Because I had been conditioned to feel like I was somehow responsible for my own victimisation.
The Telford scandal made headlines when it broke in 2015, then again when the Crowther Report was released in 2022.
Yet, the news cycle moved on.
And Labour tried their best to ignore it.
You voted against a national enquiry into CSE. You gutted the local enquires model. You promoted key figures in the scandal to MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
You called victims “far-Right bandwagon jumpers” and grooming gangs a “dog whistle.”
You failed. Deliberately.
On every level.
These are not crimes of the past. Kids are still being exploited, groomed, raped and even murdered in Labour-led areas like mine. It isn’t enough to have empty words and hollow promises.
I even went on national TV to discuss Pakistani grooming gangs in Telford and the continued risk of abuse faced by little girls in my hometown.
The next day, officers banged on my door, demanding I speak to them about my interview. They ignored victims for decades, but tried to intimidate me for speaking about their failings on live TV.
CSE is a national epidemic.
But Labour continues to treat it like a localised issue, choosing to believe that the extent of the abuse is contained to a few bad towns and pockets of bad apples. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Politicians like you, Bridget, refuse to address that fact for fear of being forced to confront your decades-long failure to protect young girls from abuse.
It’s easier to ignore victims, especially when they come from communities, social classes or demographics that are already disenfranchised in Britain.
And for those who do speak out, it feels like you are screaming at a brick wall that would rather label you as the problem than take you seriously.
It was Labour councils.
Labour politicians.
Labour police forces.
Labour MPs.
You all knew. You were all complicit.
How DARE you pretend to care about us now.
You are a disgrace, Bridget.
Bridget Phillipson@bphillipsonMP
Rupert Lowe is no supporter of women. His track record speaks for itself. Only Labour will tackle violence against women and girls.
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