Defiant Labour MP Sarah Champion vows to keep speaking out about sex abuse gangs after being forced to resign by Jeremy Corbyn

Sarah Champion, the sacked Labour MP who warned Pakistani gangs are raping white girls, has vowed to keep standing up for victims despite losing her job in Jeremy Corbyn's senior team. 

The MP for Rotherham sparked a row after claiming there is a cultural element to sexual abuse in many cases, which resulted in her being forced to stand down by Mr Corbyn. 

Taking to Twitter the defiant campaigner vowed not to be silenced and called on others to speak out.

She wrote: "HUGE thank you for all support people have shown. Promise I'll still be working on protecting children, preventing abuse & making UK more equitable."

Adding a promise to continue her work Ms Champion also re-posted a supportive message from another Twitter user which said: "We cannot solve problems unless we're allowed to talk about them, shame to see what's happened to Sarah Champion".

A number of MPs and campaigners came out to support the Labour MP following her resignation, after Mr Corbyn said she was wrong to highlight the relevance of cultural background in child sex grooming cases. 

It follows a number of high profile cases including Rotherham and Rochdale, in which groups of Asian men were found to have taken advantage of young white working class girls, using them for sex. 

Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, said the Labour leader was wrong to sack Ms Champion and called for an open discussion on the issue of culture and religion. 

Others including Labour MPs also showed their support. 

However Naz Shah and Mr Corbyn both publicly criticised an article Ms Champion wrote in The Sun newspaper, in which she said it is not racist to highlight the role of background. 

She said: "Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls. There. I said it. Does that make me a racist? Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is?"