John Mann MP on CSA

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• published: 27 May 2015
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John Mann makes a passionate speech about CSA on the 1st day of the new parliament. He inducts new members into the 'scandal' of CSA in the country, and explains that he has put down an early day motion asking for the Official Secrets Act to be lifted for officials who wish to give evidence to help answer the question of how Cyril Smith, and others, were allowed to get away with prolific child abuse for so many years? From Hansard: "There is one other issue that new Members need to be aware of, because it is going to haunt this Parliament. Yesterday on Sky television, Esther outlined it bravely. I have been in touch with her today. She has gone to the police with the name of an MP who she and others allege abused her as a child, but I am expecting other people with other names to come forward from other parts of the country in the near future. Others have already gone to the police. The scandal of historical child abuse in this country will be one of the defining issues of the next five years. It is going to corrode everything during this Parliament because it is so huge and involves so many people. Just in my area, I have had people come to me. One man was kept as a slave, forced to work in a foundry, aged 11 to 16, and that is nice compared to what happened to the rest of his family. I have 26 victims of child abuse just in my constituency who have been to see me—and who am I for them to come to? That is how big this scandal across the country is. The last Government were right to set up the Goddard inquiry. I have tabled an early-day motion—for those who do not know, an early-day motion is usually a bit of nonsense we sign so we can send letters to people telling them how good we are—calling on the Government to lift the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act, because a lot of people, including former members of special branch, want to speak out to answer the basic question I pose to anyone who wants to know: why was Cyril Smith allowed to get away with prolific child abuse for so many years? But it was not just Smith. There were far more, and what was revealed in Staffordshire yesterday was just one other aspect. My constituency is no worse than anywhere else in the country. This is nationwide and touches every aspect of society. The number of people, on top of the 26, who have been to see me who do not want the police involved, never want to go public and never actually want to say anything is phenomenal. That is how they have dealt with that childhood trauma—and it is their right to do so. A man flew back from Canada, having not visited my constituency in 30 years because of what happened to him, to spend 20 minutes in the library of my surgery, just to tell me about it, knowing nothing could be done, before flying back again. That is the impact of historical child abuse, and this Parliament is going to have to deal with it." http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/todays-commons-debates/read/unknown/75/#ht The complete debate : http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/f1e13334-f527-4a25-9965-dfd0e1bc9421 Link to John Mann Early day motion (38): http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/38 "That this House believes that justice for the survivors of child abuse should be a priority for the Government; notes that concerns have been raised by current and former police officers and special branch officers that by coming forward with evidence related to child abuse they could be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act 1989; and calls on the Government to introduce legislation to remove the threat of prosecution for anyone who has reasonable cause to believe that the information, document or article they disclose is relevant to an official investigation of, or inquiry into, historic child abuse. "