The lawyer to the victims of Jimmy Savile has scolded Jess Phillips and Peter Kyle for using paedophile's name as "political point scoring" in their row with Nigel Farage.
Speaking to GB News, Alan Collins, head of the abuse team at Hugh James Solicitors, blasted the Labour ministers for their "astonishing" decision to use Savile's name in their arguments defending the Online Safety Act.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle ignited the Savile row after declaring the Reform UK leader was "on the side" of one of Britain's most prolific paedophiles.
PA / GB News
|The lawyer representing victims of Jimmy Savile has hit out at Labour for trying to 'political point score' against Nigel Farage
Safeguarding Minister Jess Philips then said that the "latest networks of paedophiles the police have uncovered" were "on normal websites where their parents assume they’re safe", stating: "I defy Nigel Farage to tell me what any of that has to do with free speech."
Speaking to GB News, Collins said: "The name Savile is toxic. It's toxic for all the reasons that we're familiar with. He was corrosive when he was alive in all aspects of British life. And of course, with his death, we discovered the extent of his offending and the many victims of his sexual abuse. Children, vulnerable adults and so on.
"And that was a watershed moment I think in our lives, in the life of Britain. And so it's such a toxic name. I was astonished that it was being used in political debate. Victims and survivors are very often triggered by that name, and I hesitate in using it in our discussion this evening because it is such a corrosive name."
He added: "It is associated with so much harm, and at the centre of this, at the end of the day, are victims and survivors of sexual abuse, whether Saville's victims or the victims of others."
PA | Peter Kyle accused Nigel Farage of being 'on the side of people like Jimmy Savile'
Dismissing what the possible "motivation" is for using Savile's name in such a way, Collins stressed that child abuse is still "present in society today".
He explained: "It is present in our society whether we like it or not, and we should be concentrating on why that is still happening in our country in 2025. It is a blight on our national life.
"It should not be happening, and I would expect politicians of all political hue to be stepping up to the plate and addressing that, not trying to score points off each other. Child abuse has not gone away. It's a very, very serious issue in this country to state the obvious with real tragedies happening."
Criticising the Labour ministers further, Collins told GB News: "The politicians should be concentrating on that, not throwing abuse at each other on this subject, which is totally out of place and it demonstrates, I fear, a misunderstanding.
GB News
|Collins told GB News that he wonders if politicians have 'learned anything' in addressing the issue of sexual abuse
"I do wonder, in spite of everything, whether these politicians have actually learned anything. They're supposed to be leading on this, they're supposed to be leading this country on addressing these issues.
"And when you hear this sort of thing, I have to question what they have learned, if anything."
Pointing out how the name Savile can be "triggering" and a "heated" word for so many victims of sexual abuse, Collins concluded: "Victims, often when they have the opportunity to talk, for example, to a psychiatrist about their experiences and the impact of sexual abuse on them and how it's affected their lives, will often mention the fact that they had been triggered or provoked in some way by the name Saville.
"And that is why it is such a heated name, why it is so toxic. And I think everyone who has responsibilities when it comes to safeguarding and child protection should remember that."