An 11-year-old boy has become the "ringleader" of a crime spree in Blackpool, MPs have heard, as officials say they are "working hard" with the police and council " to address concerns".
Conservative MP Scott Benton made the shocking claim as he raised concerns about a "gang of teenagers" committing "hundreds" of offences in an area of the Lancashire seaside town. He continued to say that this has been an ongoing in recent weeks.
In the House of Commons, he told MPs: "Residents in the Talbot and Brunswick area of Blackpool have been plagued by anti-social behaviour in recent weeks, with hundreds of different crimes being committed by a gang of teenagers.
"The ringleader is an 11-year-old boy who has been responsible for over 80 different offences, including assaulting a female police officer."
He continued to say that the efforts to negotiate a deal with the council has been difficult, and so in a final plea has requested a debate in the House.
Mr Benton said: "Sadly the efforts of Lancashire Police to bring him to justice have been compromised by Blackpool Council's children's directorate, who refuse to criminalise teenagers.
"Can we have a debate in this House regarding anti-social behaviour, the misery it causes to communities and whether the police have the appropriate powers to tackle these problems?"
In response to this, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt encouraged Mr Benton, MP for Blackpool South, to seek a debate on how to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Ms Mordaunt replied: "I'm so sorry that his community are suffering from this series of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.
"He will know that it takes a team of people to redress this situation, it's about education, it's about the local authority, it's about a good policing approach and I think this will be an excellent topic for a debate, and I'd encourage him to apply for it in the usual way."
Commenting on the claim made by the Tory MP, Blackpool Council said in a statement: "It is completely untrue to suggest that there has been any interference from children's social care in the work of the police to address criminal acts or youth anti-social behaviour.
"There is strong evidence of joint working across our town."
They added that organisations such as the police, council and community organisations have "worked hard to address concerns" of residents in the area.
Blackpool Council say they have also engage vulnerable children and young people in "positive activities".
The statement added: "Whilst some serious and impactful issues remain, we have seen a drop in the number of incidents in the specific wards concerned - we will continue to work to further drive down these instances.
"The Youth Justice Partnership in Blackpool rightly takes a 'child first' approach to anti-social behaviour among children, but this does not mean that offending is taken lightly."
However, they added that suggesting that a child is the mastermind and head of a gang is damaging, saying: "To suggest that an 11-year-old is the ringleader of a gang of teenagers is both harmful to individual children, and detracts from the very real national issue of county lines, where vulnerable children are exploited and used to commit criminal acts to protect adults from arrest and prosecution.
"Uninformed comments are unhelpful and add nothing to the work that is under way to address these issues."
