Rotherham Labour Councillor Alan Atkin, 66, who remained silent on Grooming Gangs Fell asleep and started snoring during meeting on Child Sexual Exploitation.

The Labour Party have suspended a Senior Councillor from Rotherham Council after he fell asleep during a meeting on child sexual exploitation.

Councillor Alan Atkin was accused of snoring during the briefing on child exploitation, and has now been suspended from the party. The Labour Party say they take tackling child exploitation "incredibly seriously".

Council leader Chris Read has released a statement saying councillor Atkin's behaviour was "far from the standard of professionalism and diligence" they expected.

In a statement, Councillor Read said "The Labour Party takes tackling child exploitation incredibly seriously. The response of the council to threats to children has been transformed under our leadership in recent years, as the presentation to Scrutiny this morning showed." Adding "Councillor Atkin's conduct in today's meeting was far from the standard of professionalism and diligence we expect from our elected officials, and as such we have suspended the whip from Councillor Atkin. We are a changed Labour Party, and the public have a right to know that all Labour Party elected officials are of the highest standard."

Fellow Tory Councillor Lewis Mills, who was at the meeting, said "I could not believe my ears. If this is how he shows respect to the survivors when receiving an update on CSE, then he does not deserve to sit on this committee or represent Rotherham residents."

Alexander Stafford, Conservative MP for Rother Valley, joined in the criticism on social media. He said "Absolutely shocking that a senior Labour councillor – who chairs one of the most important committees on the council – was asleep and snoring during a briefing on child sexual exploitation." adding "Why do they not, even after all these years, take the protection of our girls seriously? Our girls have suffered for too long in Rotherham yet even now Labour won't take it seriously."

Councillor Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, said "The Labour Party takes tackling child exploitation incredibly seriously. The response of the council to threats to children has been transformed under our leadership in recent years, as the presentation to Scrutiny this morning showed."

"Councillor Atkin's conduct in the meeting was far from the standard of professionalism and diligence we expect from our elected officials, and as such we have suspended the whip from Councillor Atkin."

He added "We are a changed Labour Party, and the public have a right to know that all Labour Party elected officials are of the highest standard."

Councillor Atkin said "I did fall asleep for a couple of minutes. I suspect I have a sleep disorder. This incident has prompted me to seek a doctor's appointment."