Labour has been accused of using Jimmy Savile's name to 'deliberately bait' Nigel Farage, with lawyers for abuse survivors criticising ministers for employing the late TV presenter's 'toxic' name for political point-scoring.
Alan Collins, head of the abuse team at Hugh James solicitors, said it was 'concerning' to see safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and others use Savile's name to 'score points over political opponents'. Labour has accused Farage and Reform UK of being 'on the side of predators like Savile' by opposing the Online Safety Act.
Technology secretary Peter Kyle first made the comparison, telling Sky News: 'If people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he'd be perpetrating his crimes online. And Nigel Farage is saying that he's on their side.' Phillips later referred to 'one of those modern-day Saviles' in a comment about online abuser Alexander McCartney.
Collins said the comparison would have 'triggered' distress among survivors of child sexual abuse, adding: 'His name is so toxic I struggle to understand why the government would throw his name out there.' Richard Scorer, another solicitor for Savile's victims, said it was 'completely wrong for any politician of any party to seek to score points using the suffering of Savile victims'.
Collins urged Phillips and Kyle to stop using Savile's name and 'concentrate on the day job which is safeguarding vulnerable people and kids'. Scorer called for constructive work to implement the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, which he said both the current and previous governments had failed to do.
