Labour slammed for ‘weaponising child sex abuse’

LABOUR was last night accused of ‘weaponising’ child abuse after blaming the Coalition for a rise in child sexual exploitation.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper released figures which showed reports of child sex abuse have risen by 60 per cent over the past four years, while arrests for these offences have fallen by 9 per cent.

The Tories said the figures were ‘false’, and accused Labour of ‘ playing politics’ with an ‘appalling crime’.

They said the rise in reports was due to more awareness of the issue in light of scandals in Labour council areas such as Rochdale and elsewhere.

Last night Conservative MP Julian Smith said: ‘Is there no level to which Labour won’t stoop? First they tried to weaponise the NHS, now this. It’s disgusting.’

Miss Cooper claimed the figures showed police are not able to respond to the scale of the reports, pointing out that over the past four years, almost 17,000 officers have been cut. She added: ‘[Tory] plans for deeper cuts in the next Parliament cutting over 20,000 police would be deeply damaging to the fight against child abuse.’

A Tory spokesman said: ‘ Child abuse is an appalling crime, and no one should play politics with it. Labour’s conclusions are false. They are talking about the amount of crime that is reported to the police.

‘But for many people, child sexual abuse has been a hidden crime which is only now coming to light, and it is good that more people are having the courage to come forward.

‘Rather than making up numbers about police officers, Labour should support the action we have taken to expose this evil crime, to prosecute the perpetrators and to support survivors.’