Lou

Today you are going to be fed a complete lie by the Conservative Party about a vote in Parliament this evening on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This will be pushed by their social media mouthpieces as well as other right-wing voices, including the owner of this site. But you should not believe a word of it. MPs are today voting on a Bill which aims to improve children’s education and wellbeing through measures that will help limit school uniform costs, introduce free breakfast clubs, make important reforms to academy schools, introduce a power to cap the profits made by children’s social care providers and create a compulsory Children Not in School register among other measures. It is not a vote on a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation. Nor is there any Amendment which would add such an Inquiry to the Bill. Nor is one possible at this stage of a Bill. Any politician who says there is such an Amendment is lying to you. There is simply game-playing by the Tories, who do have an Amendment, but an Amendment which is to throw out the WHOLE Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Even if the Tory Amendment were passed, it would not add an Inquiry to the Bill – it would simply kill the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, preventing all its positive measures being passed. The Tories know all this, but they are continuing with their totally cynical and deliberate campaign of confusion (as part of their fight for survival in their political battle with Reform). It is sickening to see child abuse, one of the most serious of all issues, being used as a political football in this way.