John Healey questioned the benefits of holding an inquiry into agencies’ handling of sex-exploitation cases

A Rotherham Labour MP opposed calls for a investigation into the town’s child-sex scandal because he did not think it would help young victims or their families, it can be revealed.

John Healey questioned the benefits of holding an inquiry into agencies’ handling of sex-exploitation cases, “especially if it focuses solely on Rotherham and on Asian men grooming white girls”.

He was replying to a constituent who told the MP two years ago that he was “deeply disturbed” by articles in The Times accusing police and senior council officials in the South Yorkshire town of failing for a decade to protect children and prosecute their abusers.

The email exchange will fuel suspicions that some Labour politicians were reluctant to tackle the escalating problem because many