The row over the Government's handling of the grooming gangs crisis deepened last night, amid claims Sir Keir Starmer is blaming Home Secretary Yvette Cooper for Labour's hesitant response.
No 10 insiders said her department had failed to warn Downing Street when there were first calls for a new Home Office-led inquiry.
That led to ministers refusing a new major national inquiry, with Ms Cooper last week announcing a series of local investigations into the extent of the sexual exploitation of young women.
The move comes as the Tories ramped up pressure for a full investigation into the 'horrific rape gang scandal' by unveiling plans for a second vote in the House of Commons on the issue, just ten days after Labor overwhelmingly rejected an earlier bid of the Conservatives had rejected for a new investigation. .
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp announced last night that his party would table a new amendment to the Government's Children's Wellbeing and School Bill.
He said: 'We are going to give Labor and Liberal Democrat MPs another chance to deliver justice for the victims of the horrific rape gang scandal.'
The move comes after The Mail on Sunday was informed by Number 10 insiders of a disagreement with the Home Office over its response to the controversy in recent weeks.
It is claimed that Sir Keir Starmer is blaming Home Secretary Yvette Cooper for Labour's faltering response to the grooming gangs crisis.
Ms Cooper announced a series of local investigations into the extent of the sexual exploitation of young women earlier this week
One source claimed that if Downing Street had been aware that Oldham Council was calling for a new government-led inquiry into its local area, it would not have received an outright 'no' that way.
But a government source last night hit back at claims of a rift, saying: 'This is absolute nonsense. The Prime Minister and his team have worked very closely with the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Security [Jess Phillips] to take the action needed to tackle malicious gangs and better protect children.
'Nothing is more important than justice for the victims.
“Across government we will work to deliver the change needed after 14 years of Tory inaction.”
A Number 10 source pointed to 'the Prime Minister's repeated comments that we do not agree that a new national inquiry is necessary at this stage'.
Just two days ago, tensions between ministers were high after Culture Secretary Chris Bryant admitted that interventions by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk had sparked further debate on the issue of grooming gangs.
Musk had used his social media platform X to criticize the government and call for a new national regulatory inquiry.
But in a sharp rebuke to Mr Bryant, Culture Minister Lisa Nandy said: 'We are not a government that governs through social media, we govern for the real world.'
Mr Philp added: 'Labour is more interested in fighting each other than in solving the issue.'
