Suella Braverman's new policy is something that Keir Starmer thought of 10 years ago

In the dying days of Tory Britain, home secretary Suella Braverman has decided to create some policies.

And so, she has announced it will become a legal requirement for professionals to report any suspicions of child sexual abuse to stop grooming gangs.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, she said: “Our safeguarding professionals, such as teachers and social workers, are valued public servants who play a vital role in protecting and nurturing future generations.

“I know the overwhelming majority of them, along with the public, consider it a duty on themselves and their colleagues to report any indication of the sexual abuse of a child.”

She said the law needed to be strengthened to “ensure those who fail to do so face the full force of the law”.

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It sounds pretty sensible so are we all Conservative voters now?

Well, no. Labour leader Keir Starmer came up with the idea years ago in 2013, just after he stood down as Director of Public Prosecutions and two years before he became a Labour MP.

He told the BBC’s Panorama programme: “I think the time has come to change the law and close a gap that’s been there for a very long time. I think there should be a mandatory reporting provision.

“The problem is, if you haven’t got a central provision requiring people to report, then all you can do is fall back on other provisions that aren’t really designed for that purpose and that usually means they run into difficulties. What you really need is a clear, direct law that everybody understands.”

Then there's the culture wars row she's created. Braverman and prime minister Rishi Sunak have launched the “grooming gang taskforce”, which will help police forces carry out investigations into the problem of child sexual exploitation by groups of men. Braverman pointed to British Pakistani men in particular despite studies showing the majority of cases happen with white men as the perpetrators.

As for copying Starmer, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

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