The Southport Inquiry must not allow a cover up of MPs failures that may have led to the Southport Murders.
10/04/2025
Today we have made an application for Core Participant Status in the Southport Inquiry and to request additions to the Terms of Reference. The application seeks to ensure that the inquiry does not overlook a failure of MPs, including the current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to address failings within the Government’s safeguarding systems in relation to bullying and violence in schools, especially in relation to the use of weapons and knives.
The failure of MPs to address these failings, evidently played a significant role in the mobilisation of Axel Muganwa Rudakubana (AMR) towards violence and the horrific events in Southport, yet remarkably has not been identified in the Government’s initial framing of the inquiry and terms of reference. The application seeks to ensure that, an examination of the failure of MPs to address these failings on a number of occasions, is central to the inquiry.
Context
Within the Government, through the Department for Education (DfE) and relevant to this application, there are two systems that exist to address concerns involving children and violence:
(1) The Prevent system, that addresses concerns/complaints re: children engaging in or at risk of becoming engaged in violent ideologies related to terrorism.
(2) The Government safeguarding system, that addresses concerns/complaints re: children involved in bullying, actual violence and violence related incidents in schools, including incidents involving the use of weapons and knives.
A review of the Prevent system, has already accepted that there was a critical failure to see the relevance of AMR’s bullying grievances and his previous issues with violence and weapons in school. Critically AMR had confessed to taking a knife into school on numerous occasions due to bullying. The review states that grievances are one of the most significant factors that motivate an individual’s mobilisation towards violence. This means that in this case, any failings within the safeguarding system in relation to bullying and violence in schools, are just as relevant to the inquiry as any failings within the Prevent system, if not more so. The safeguarding system should have resolved any violence and bullying issues AMR had, as soon as those problems began and evidently failed to do so.
The safeguarding system in relation to bullying and violence, has been evidenced to be significantly flawed in a number of ways and it is these failings and flaws that evidently played a significant role in allowing AMR to become increasingly violent. More than 650 MPs from 2017 onwards, including the current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, were warned on numerous occasions about the specific failings within the system in relation to violence involving the use of weapons and knives, and the likelihood that the failings would lead to the deaths of a number of children without intervention. All those warned, failed to take any action whatsoever to investigate the concerns. Had it not been for those specific failures, the tragic events in Southport would almost certainly not have happened.
This application for Core Participant Status and a request to add to the terms of reference, seeks to provide evidence to the inquiry regarding these failings, that would ensure any repeat of these tragic events could be prevented in the future, as well as similar events including child murders and planned school massacres. The evidence would also ensure that all those who have failed and those who have potentially engaged in a cover up of the issues, especially at the highest levels of government, including the Prime Minister are held to account. In the end, this may require a subsequent criminal investigation.
Note this is just one aspect of our ongoing demand through this site for a public inquiry into failings related to bullying and violence related suicides, harms and deaths in schools and an alleged cover up of those issues. That is a separate matter that will still require a public inquiry of its own.
Circumstances have dictated though that we also now provide evidence to the Southport Inquiry, in order to assist in those investigations as well. If the applications are rejected, we will ensure that all of the evidence is made publicly available at the same time as the Official Inquiry, through an alternative forum, to ensure that the failure of MPs and the part this may have played in the tragedy cannot be covered up.