UK MPs back tougher safeguards for children after Sara Sharif murder

UK lawmakers on Wednesday backed better safeguards for home-schooled children following the brutal murder of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl, in a vote overshadowed by the recent row over grooming gangs.

MPs progressed the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to the next stage of the parliamentary process without the need for a further formal vote.

That came after MPs rejected an amendment that threatened to derail the legislation.

The opposition Conservative party had sought to use the debate to force the establishment of a new national inquiry into sex offences dating back decades against children in northern England.

Controversy has swirled around the issue over the past week after US tech billionaire Elon Musk made repeated incendiary attacks against Britain’s Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer about it on his X platform.

Starmer has rejected calls for a new inquiry, arguing it is time for “action” to implement the almost two dozen recommendations made in an earlier seven-year-long inquiry with a broader focus.

Read more: Sara Sharif’s father attacked in prison

He said Wednesday that the children’s bill, which would require all local authorities to hold a register of children who are not in school, forms part of wider efforts to protect vulnerable youngsters.

Sharif was found dead in her home outside London in August 2023 with extensive injuries including broken bones, burns and even bite marks after being subjected to years of abuse.

Her father Urfan Sharif and step-mother Beinash Batool were convicted of her murder last month and given life sentences in prison.

Months before Sara’s death, Sharif had taken his daughter out of school to be taught at home, after the girl’s teacher reported her bruises to child services.

At the time, child services had probed the incident but did not take any action.