GB News presenter Martin Daubney has reacted with fury to suggestions that financial considerations are behind the government’s rejection of a public inquiry into grooming gangs.
His outburst came after Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones claimed on GB News that cost implications of “upwards of £1 million” may have influenced the decision.
“A million pounds is chicken feed. Absolute chicken feed in the grand scheme of things,” Daubney declared during the heated exchange.
Commissioner Jones explained that if a Home Office minister ordered an inquiry, their department would be responsible for the costs.
Martin Daubney lashed out after it was suggested money played a role in Labour’s decision
GB NEWS / PA
“If Jess Phillips as safeguarding minister agreed this was needed because it was of such national significance… they would have to pick up the bill,” Jones said on GB News.
She added: “I don’t want to be crude about this, but I think money does feature in this.”
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Donna Jones joined Martin Daubney on GB News
GB NEWS
The Commissioner emphasised that child protection should be considered of utmost national significance.
Daubney contrasted the inquiry’s potential cost with other government spending commitments.
“They’ve given £10 billion to train drivers. If you’re giving £22 billion to international climate change and £16 billion to foreign aid, £1 million is a rounding error,” he said.
He added: “Surely they can’t be palming it off because of such paltry sums of money. That would be absolutely grotesque.”
The row erupted after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected calls for a government inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham.
Phillips stated in a letter that it was for “Oldham Council alone to decide” on commissioning an inquiry, rather than government intervention.
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has called for a national inquiry into the grooming scandal, stating “2025 must be the year that victims get justice.”
The scandal, exposed in 2013, revealed girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across multiple English towns.
An Oldham Council spokesman addressed the ongoing debate about future inquiries.
“Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation,” the spokesman said.
“Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.”
The council has indicated plans to launch its own Telford-style inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally.
