We must not allow tech billionaires scoring virtual points to detract from a better life being built for our children
Plus: Why Meta's fact-check decision is chilling + our commitment to in-depth storytelling behind the headlines
You might think this week’s big news was about Elon Musk, Nigel Farage, or Keir Starmer. You’d be wrong. Beneath the noise of power struggles lies a serious issue: the UK’s systemic neglect of its children—a failure that has been cloaked and twisted by the far-right to fuel divisive narratives.
Over the past few days, Musk has used his platform on X to launch a barrage of attacks against the Labour government over their refusal to launch a statutory inquiry into the grooming gang scandal. Musk accused Home Office minister Jess Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist.” Musk also claimed Starmer was complicit and called him to be imprisoned. His comments not only spread gross misinformation and endangered two UK politicians, but they also diverted much-needed attention from the issue at hand, reducing it to a political football between the left and the right.
At its core, the grooming gang scandal reflects a systemic failure of the UK to protect its children. These incidents, spanning decades and counties, were enabled by a litany of failures from authorities tasked with safeguarding vulnerable children. Instead, entrenched classist and sexist attitudes perpetuated a culture of neglect. Voiceless, vulnerable children were left abandoned.
In 2022, Alexis Jay completed a landmark inquiry into child sexual abuse in the UK, exposing the sheer scale of the crisis. One estimate suggested that over 500,000 children experience sexual violence in the UK every year. Jay’s inquiry offered a forensic, evidence-based roadmap for addressing the problem: mandatory reporting of abuse, a cabinet minister for children, public education campaigns to dismantle harmful myths, and a slew of local authority reforms. Yet, her findings were largely ignored by the Conservative government. Only after Musk’s incendiary comments did Labour commit to upholding these recommendations in full—a reactive, rather than proactive, step.
The truth is that successive governments have failed—and continue to fail—children at every level. Child sexual abuse represents the most acute end of the spectrum, but the broader picture is equally grim. UK children are among the unhappiest in Europe. More than one in three lives in poverty. They face crumbling schools, overcrowded housing, worsening physical and mental health, and a reliance on unregulated social media that delivers bullies directly into their bedrooms. Youth clubs have vanished, while the cost-of-living crisis makes even public spaces inaccessible. And, as they grow up, they face skyrocketing tuition fees, stagnant wages, and an intractable housing crisis.
For too long, politicians have ignored these realities because children, lacking political and economic capital, are easy to sideline. But this negligence is short-sighted and morally indefensible.
But it doesn’t stop there. On Wednesday, the Conservative opposition doubled down on its shameless politicisation of children’s wellbeing. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch proposed an amendment to the Child Wellbeing and Schools Bill, calling for a national inquiry into the grooming scandal. However, the amendment was designed in a way that would have blocked the entire bill. Although it was defeated, the move to obstruct legislation containing critical child protection measures underscored how little the Conservatives truly value the safety of young people when weighed against it’s own political agenda.
At the Resolution Foundation’s “A squeezed middle of the decade? The political economy outlook for 2025” event earlier this week, former Cabinet Secretary and peer Gus O’Donnell offered a refreshing, much-needed perspective: a vision of “building better lives,” grounded in improving the well-being of future generations.
He underscored the deep concerns parents have about their children’s mental health and happiness, urging policymakers to focus on making families feel their lives are truly improving. “What parents feel is: 'my kids are really not happy', the mental health crisis we're having, and all the rest of it. They've got to start addressing this idea of, how do we actually make people feel their lives are better, and that's going to be through children.”
Labour has an opportunity to transform the country’s trajectory. Millennials were the first generation to fare worse than their parents in terms of living standards, and Gen-Z faces an even bleaker outlook. Yet Labour, despite some initial missteps, has shown a willingness to prioritise long-term policymaking over short-term political expediency.
By shifting focus from catering to older, wealthier voters toward championing the needs of children and young people, Labour could define itself as the party of the future.
To seize this opportunity, Starmer must go beyond broad policies like planning reform and green energy investment, which, while valuable, are slow to yield visible results. Real progress starts with immediate and tangible improvements in children’s lives—reforming education, tackling child poverty, rebuilding youth services, and implementing Jay’s recommendations in full.
The question for Labour is not just whether they will prioritise children but how far they will go to secure their futures. Young people in the UK have waited long enough, their plight can not become a tool of the far-right. Won’t somebody, finally, think of the children?
Meta decides it doesn’t need facts
It’s not just Musk making a lot of noise this week - perhaps as chilling is the decision by one of the world’s largest platforms, Meta, who run Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads, to stand down their fact-checking operation.
In a move seemingly designed to cosy up to the incoming President Trump, then Diyora Shadijanova looks at what this decision might mean and the growing disconnect between how the US and UK and Europe are approaching dealing with almighty tech platforms and their continued dominance.
Why in-depth, independent, locally based reporting has never been more crucial
In light of both Musk and Zuckberger’s interventions and decisions this week, we thought it was worth reflecting on the important aim we have with The Lead North.
Breaking through social media filter bubbles and directly into communities through newsletters and our print editions means we’ve been able to bring in-depth, impartial and deeply-rooted reporting to communities in the North of England.
Earlier this week we brought you the inside story on how one of the orchestrators behind the ugly scenes in Southport was brought to justice and reaction from those who witnessed, first-hand, what happened.
And below are where we’ve gone beyond the headlines and social media froth about the far-right, grooming gangs and more in our titles.
We delved deep into the reasons behind the disorder seen in Blackpool in early August last year, and our Lancashire Lead editor Jamie Lopez reported first-hand on what unfolded on his street in Southport.
That’s it for this week’s weekend edition of The Lead, we’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. In the meantime, a reminder to take a couple of minutes to fill in our reader survey (so we can ensure we’re reporting on issues which matter to you) and also we’ll be launching our latest Lead North edition this weekend with the first edition of
.Have a great weekend, whatever your plans in this chilly start to January. Thanks very much for reading.
Ed, Zoe, Luke, Leah, Sophie and Natalie