Suella Braverman said women had been treated ‘like cattle’ by the gangs (Image: PA)
Former home secretary Suella Braverman has claimed Britain’s equality laws have encouraged institutions like councils and the police to treat Muslim grooming gang members more leniently.
Speaking on GB News on Tuesday, the Tory MP argued there is an “institutional cowardice” to telling the truth about the rape scandal, with professionals covering up “horrendous exploitation” out of fear of being called racist.
Following on from Robert Jenrick’s comments that certain racial groups have a medieval attitude to women, Mrs Braverman went further and accused the rape gangs of treating women as “cattle”.
Asked by presenter Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg whether Britain’s existing equality laws around protected characteristics – such as being a woman, LGBT or an ethnic minority – had put pressure on those in power not to treat everyone equally, Mrs Braverman agreed.
The former cabinet minister said: “The notion of protected characteristics finds itself in the equality act and has its genesis in international law and European rights laws.
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Suella Braverman said equality laws had a part to play in the scandal (Image: GB News)
“What that does is it divides people. It divides people by physical characteristics and it obliges local authorities to make sure that minority groups are given special treatment.
“That is one contributory factor to this scandal. There’s been a real fear to challenge injustice because the perpetrators were members of a minority ethnic group and that was seen as far too radical, far too draconian an approach for professionals to take.”
Mrs Braverman argued that Britain’s Judeo-Christian culture that protects fundamental liberties are being undermined by migrants coming to the UK who don’t subscribe to country’s values.
She said: “In fact they treat women as cattle. They see Western women as objects they can abuse and exploit.
“This is totally at odds with British values of tolerance and respect.”
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Suella Braverman visited Rochdale with Rishi Sunak while in government (Image: Getty)
The prominent Conservative MP said these points are all proof of how multiculturalism has failed, and the grooming gang scandal is a symptom of that.
She added: “We have to look at who we are as a nation. This whole episode is raising up a mirror to our country and we have a big question to ask ourselves: are we going to stand confidently behind those values that have made our country great, or are we going to cower and bend the knee to harmful values that are undermining our country?”
On Tuesday, the Liberal Democrats called on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to sack Mr Jenrick over his comments, which they branded “divisive”.
Mr Jenrick also said: “Pakistani men are over-represented in those who are involved in the grooming gangs, and the evidence we have seen is that some of those have specifically preyed upon white, working-class girls because they viewed them as worthless.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader said: “Robert Jenrick’s attempt to exploit this appalling scandal for his own political gain is completely shameless.
“He didn’t lift a finger to help the victims when a minister, now he’s jumping on the bandwagon and acting like a pound-shop Farage.
“Kemi Badenoch should sack him as Shadow Justice Secretary and condemn his divisive comments, instead of letting him run a leadership campaign under her nose.”