Blaming it on the Tories might be the intent, but I really, really don’t think it will work.
The city in question, where the actual decisions not to deal with this were made, is the rough equivalent of a US Democrat single-party system city, except the party is Labour.
The claim is that the problem “started” in 97, and continued for 16 years to 2013. What else happened in 97? Labour took over the national government and held it till 2010.
So if Labour and its leftist allies in the media tries to make this out to be the Tories’ fault, I really believe it will backfire.
This article is by a Labour party worker, and published in a leftist paper. While it doesn’t blame Labour, I suspect readers aren’t stupid enough to not make the obvious connection. That the Comments have been closed is probably because they were doing exactly that.
I sure hope you're right -- it would be like Rom Emanuel trying to blame Chicago's high murder rate on Republicans in Congress, or better yet, on George W.
Most Americans wouldn't buy it, and that is probably why we don't see it reported on much in "mainstream media".
After all, what's the fun of reporting something which is not Republicans' fault?
So, a thousand blacks can murder each other in Chicago, with less media fuss than one in Ferguson, MO.
Nevertheless, there is nearly always a "blame Republicans" POV which soon makes its way into the "mainstream".
And don't forget, the British government is said to be far more centralized than ours, so nearly every local program takes its orders and funding from the national government.
Seems likely they'll soon find an angle from which to blame PM David Cameron.
Or just maybe, British Labour is trying to pull-a-Hillary and for once get to the right of Conservatives on some social issue?
After all, this is an matter that even the lowest of information British voter can understand, even when presented outside of its politically incorrect context.
Bottom line: this story didn't make sense to me outside some larger context, which I've had to imagine on my own, but suppose now it's pretty close to reality.
You’re right that Rotherham, and most of the other places nearby where this has been going on for decades, are Labour majority cities. (Although the BNP for a while, and now UKIP are starting to challenge this.)
There’s a particular way that Labour interacts with the Pakistani communities in these areas though, supporting ‘community leaders’ who are corrupt and often outright criminals, in return for ‘getting the asian vote out’
See this local blog (I think the author is disillusioned ex-Labour but they seem to have pretty comprehensive knowledge of the players and politics of it.)