CHILD sexual exploitation victims should no longer be forced to disclose convictions linked to their abuse, Labour argued yesterday.

Shadow home office minister Louise Haigh said in the Commons that punitive rules mean those who had been convicted of crimes while exploited by adults “cannot escape their past as victims.”

Ms Haigh said during the urgent question: “These victims are not only forced to live with their trauma but convictions linked to their sexual exploitation in childhood.

“They are blighted by an obligation to disclose previous convictions linked to past abuse, forced to tell employers and even local PTAs about past convictions.”

Ms Haigh referred to the campaigner and survivor of Rotherham child sexual exploitation Sammy Woodhouse, who has two convictions linked to the time she was groomed by Arshid Hussain.

The Labour frontbencher asked the government to look at enacting a proposal called “Sammy’s Law” which would allow victims to have their criminal records “automatically reviewed and crimes associated with their grooming removed.”

She asked what the position on records disclosure for survivors was.

Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins said she was not able to comment on individual cases due to an ongoing case at the Supreme Court on this issue.

She said: “The criminal record disclosure scheme seeks to strike a balance between safeguarding children and enabling vulnerable individuals to put their offending behind them.”

She said it “applies to only certain jobs that are protected, and it is for employers to judge a person’s suitability for a role once they are armed with the facts.”

• Labour MPs Laura Smith and Sarah Champion have led a joint call for Tory MP Boris Johnson to apologise to child abuse victims for having claimed that millions of pounds in police funding was being “spaffed up the wall” in investigating historic allegations.

  More than 110 MPs signed the letter on Tuesday that was sent to Conservative Party chair Brandon Lewis.

  It condemns Mr Johnson’s “appalling” comments, adding that “there should be no time limit on justice.”