Under-fire police boss cancels public meeting amid Rotherham scandal

Embattled South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner (PCC) Shaun Wright has cancelled a planned surgery today, saying no members of the public had booked an appointment.

Mr Wright has not made any public appearances for nine days now – since he gave interviews the day after the publication of Professor Alexis Jay’s damning report on how at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham.

He has insisted he will not resign despite widespread calls for him to step down.

In a statement, his office said: “The Office of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner can confirm that the planned surgery for Friday 5 September in Barnsley will no longer take place.

“The Commissioner’s surgeries are managed by appointment and there have been no requests for appointments at this Friday’s surgery.

“We usually require two full days in order to research queries put to us in advance of the surgeries to ensure that we provide members of the public with meaningful information when the commissioner meets with them, in order to fully address their inquiry.

“Therefore, in line with our usual protocol, we have cancelled Friday’s surgeries as no appointments have been requested.”

Since the Jay Report was published, there have been top-level calls for Mr Wright to step down.

Before he was elected as PCC, he was councillor in Rotherham for more than a decade and the cabinet member with responsibility for children’s services from 2005 to 2010.

The report was scathing about the lack of action of senior councillors and council officers in the town between 1997 and 2013 as hundreds of girls, and some boys, were groomed, trafficked and raped.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, Home Secretary Theresa May and Labour leader Ed Miliband have all called for Mr Wright to resign as has his deputy, Tracey Cheetham, who stepped down herself in protest at his failure to go.

When Labour threatened to drop him last week, Mr Wright resigned from the party. He has not been working at his office in Barnsley, and was last spotted walking out of the South Yorkshire Police HQ in Sheffield on Monday.

Earlier this week, the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons said Mr Wright will be appear before them next week.