Labour leader Ed Miliband vows to fight child sex grooming (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Labour leader Ed Miliband vows to fight child sex grooming
6:00pm Friday 26th October 2012 in News
By Bill Jacobs, Local government reporter
SPEECH Ed Miliband in Preston yesterday
LABOUR leader Ed Miliband yesterday promised that key East Lancashire crime issues like grooming vulnerable girls for sex, and anti-social behaviour would be tackled if his party’s candidate became county police commissioner.
He came to Preston to launch both the national campaign for the posts and Clive Grunshaw’s bid for the job locally.
Mr Miliband warned the elections risked being ‘invisible’ but said were still vital in the fight against crime and disorder.
He told the Lancashire Telegraph that people’s concerns in East Lancashire would be a priority of Fleetwood’s County Councillor Grunshaw if he got the high profile job.
Mr Miliband said: “If he wins Clive will be coming to places like Blackburn and Burnley to make sure their residents’ views are represented in decisions he takes.
“It’s vital that their priorities are police priorities.
“We must take the sexual grooming and abuse of vulnerable young people very seriously and the work of Blackburn’s Engage team in this field will be studied carefully to see what lessons can be learned both locally and nationally. We need their joined up approach.
“The government replacing Blackburn MP Jack Straw’s anti-social behaviour orders but we know this is a key issue to people in East Lancashire and Clive will make sure it stays high on the county police agenda.”
The other candidates for Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner in the November 15 elections are Conservative, Tim Ashton; Liberal Democrat, Afzal Anwar, and UKIP Robert Drobny.
