How have MPs dealt with cases like the Rotherham child abuse scandal in the past?

An investigation has found that at least 1,400 children in Rotherham were sexually exploited for 16 years. Blame is flying everywhere, so how have MPs dealt with similar cases in the past?

By Anoosh Chakelian

(Photo By The police station in Rotherham. Photo: Getty)

The news that South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright has resigned from the Labour party, but insists on remaining a PCC independently, has raised important questions about the reaction to the Rotherham child abuse scandal.

A report, released this week, has found that at least 1,400 children in Rotherham were sexually exploited over a period of nearly a decade between 1997 and 2013. The council leader Roger Stone has already stepped down, and the former chief executive of the council Mike Cuff has said he takes a share of the responsibility for the council’s failure to prevent the crimes. The Home Secretary Theresa May and Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, among other MPs, have called for Wright to resign his position as PCC.