Rotherham sign
Labour has suspended four of its members in Rotherham over the child sex abuse scandal Rotherham MBC

The Labour party has suspended four of its members in Rotherham over the child sex abuse scandal which has caused outrage across the country.

Councillors Shaukat Ali, Roger Stone, Gwendoline Ann Russell and former councillor Jahangir Akhtar now face internal party investigations.

Rotherham has been under Labour control for decades, but the council is now facing heavy criticism from with the Labour Party.

"It cannot be allowed to stand," said a Labour spokesperson, adding those responsible "must be and will be held to account."

Simon Danczuk, MP for Rochdale, told the Telegraph that Asian members of Rotherham's council had created a political culture of 'looking after their own'. "There are cultural issues around the way politics are done in the Asian community which have to change," he told the newspaper.

Mass child abuse

A damning report last week found the authorities in Rotherham ignored reports that as many as 1,400 vulnerable children were sexually abused by organised gangs of paedophiles between 1997 and 2014.

"As Ed Miliband made clear last week large numbers of young in Rotherham were systematically abused and then let down by those who should have protected them," a Labour spokesperson said.

Shaun Wright, the police commissioner of South Yorkshire, also faces measures by the party, even though he resigned his membership rather than heed calls to quit his post by senior party members.

Wright was in charge of children's services in Rotherham during part of the time the abuse was being ignored by the authorities.

Now Wright, and fellow former party member Maurice Kirk, will not be able to rejoin Labour without approval from its National Executive Committee.

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