Burnley’s Lib Dem MP, Gordon Birtwistle, and Pendle Conservative, Andrew Stephenson, last night shamelessly voted against a Commons motion urging the Coalition Government to re-think its decision to scrap the EMA.

They are obviously unaware of research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that shows the costs of the EMA are offset by its benefits in raising participation.

In recent months, both Birtwistle and Stephenson have been full of concern for students, acknowledging there are many who are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

For many students in East Lancashire the jury is out. They, like the rest of us, will be waiting to see the details of the new “targeted” replacement.

In the meantime, they will not forget the EMA has been retained in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Sexual predators

Jack Straw’s comments earlier this month that young white girls are seen as “easy meat” by British Pakistani sexual predators caused quite a stir.

An on-line poll in the Lancashire Telegraph reported that 87% of readers who expressed a view agreed with Jack – that there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men… who target vulnerable young white girls.

What will be the consequences of this categorical statement as the idea takes hold in the public consciousness (as it surely will) that there is an incubus within the British Pakistani community?

The Times reported that since 1997 there have been 17 court cases “where groups of men were prosecuted for grooming 11-16 year olds”. We are told that 53 of the 56 people found guilty were Asian. 50 were Muslim and three were white.

These statistics were picked up and used by the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Sun in their coverage of the issue.

Is that the whole story?

Academic researchers protest that data from a small sample has been generalised to brand British Pakistani men as being pre-disposed towards this kind of criminal behaviour.

What is the truth?

The sex grooming of teenagers is to be investigated by the Child Exploitation and On-line Protection Centre (CEOP) which aims to report in 3-6 months.

Its Chief Executive, Peter Davies, believes:

“The sexual exploitation of children cannot be simplified along ethnic lines where the victims constitute one ethnicity and offenders another.”

In all my years as MP for Pendle (where the British Pakistani population is now around 14%) I never had any reason to believe there was a specific problem with the grooming of children by British Pakistani men.

I had regular meetings with the police who briefed me on what was happening in the area.

I ran busy surgeries week-in week-out but cannot recall a single occasion where I was alerted to this problem – by a parent, teacher, social worker, a victim or anyone else.

If I had known, I would have acted.

It must have come as news to Jack too otherwise he would have spoken out before now.

Yes, he would.