Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has launched an extraordinary attack on politicians calling for a national inquiry into Britain’s grooming gangs scandal.

Ms Phillipson said the Conservatives’ push for a vote that would halt progress of a Bill aimed at bolstering child safety is “absolutely sickening”.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will today ramp up demands for a national inquiry into the child grooming scandal to end the “culture of cover ups” in British institutions.

The Tory leader is to challenge Keir Starmer to launch a public probe into the sexual abuse of young girls in towns across the country, by tabelling an amendment to Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing Bill.

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have called for a national inquiry after the issue was reignited by interventions on social media from Elon Musk.

But the Labour Education Secretary told Sky News: “The bandwagon jumpers that have come along in recent days, they don’t care about children.

“They don’t care about making sure that we stop this and we take action.

“They had years to do it and they didn’t and children and survivors have been failed.

“What I would say, in terms of the choice today, the choice in Parliament, is they can back this, or as they are proposing, can kill stone dead this key landmark legislation.

“They have spent the last week or so touring studios like this, telling your viewers that they care about keeping children safe.

“Well they should put up, or shut up and vote for this legislation and do precisely that.”

The scandal is expected to be the focus of furious debate when the two leaders face each other over the despatch during Prime Minister’s Questions at noon.

Ms Badenoch is tabling a Commons amendment designed to force a vote on an inquiry which she says means MPs “can do right by the victims”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is scrambling to steady the ship after brutal clashes with Mr Musk and accusations that he had “smeared” those calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs as helping the “far-Right”.

The PM fuelled the backlash after saying that politicians who want an overarching probe into the rape of thousands of white girls by gangs of predominantly Pakistani-origin men were “jumping on the bandwagon” and “amplifying what the far-Right are saying”.

But Ms Phillipson sought to blame the Tories, claiming: “I’m interested in how we protect children and keep them safe from harm, and as I’ve been clear, we were already working on her national review, which the Conservatives established.

“But what did they do with that review? It reported in 2022. They sat on it.

“Some of the very same people who were ministers, including in the Home Office, are coming out now and saying it’s a national scandal that nothing happened.

“Do they own a mirror?

“They are the very people who are responsible for the failure to act and they are the same very people who intend to black our legislation to keep children safe.

“I thought there wasn’t a limit to how far they would sink, and I was wrong.”

Professor Alexis Jay, who led a seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse in Britain, said victims “clearly want action” and that the time has passed for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.

The slew of messages on X from tech billionaire Elon Musk on the issue attacking Sir Keir and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips came after the Government declined to commission a Home Office inquiry into sexual exploitation in Oldham, insisting it should be locally-led.