Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the priority was helping victims of systematic sexual exploitation ‘not people’s hurt feelings about how they’ve been spoken about’
Rachel Reeves clashed with Sky News presenter Sir Trevor Phillips after the Government dropped its opposition to a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
The Chancellor said the priority was helping victims of systematic sexual exploitation “not people’s hurt feelings about how they’ve been spoken about” when asked to apologise to critics.
It comes after Keir Starmer previously hit out at opposition politicians calling for an inquiry, accusing them of “jumping on a bandwagon” and “amplifying what the far-right is saying” to gain attention.
But the Prime Minister confirmed on Saturday that he had accepted a recommendation from Baroness Louise Casey for a full probe after tasking her to carry out an audit. Her findings are expected to published this week.
The Government initially resisted calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, arguing it had been looked as part of a seven-year probe into child sexual abuse in England and Wales by Professor Alexis Jay, which reported in 2022.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer to launch grooming gangs inquiry that will make witnesses testify
Widespread sexual abuse of young girls in a number of English towns was uncovered over a decade ago, with victims repeatedly failed by the police and child protection agencies.
The scandal hit the headlines again in January after Elon Musk seized on reports that Home Office Minister Jess Phillips had rejected calls for a public inquiry, in favour of allowing councils to launch local probes.
The tech billionaire launch an onslaught of online attacks against Keir Starmer and Ms Phillips, including reposting a call for her to be jailed.
Asked if there will be an apology for people who were criticised for raising the issue of grooming gangs, Ms Reeves said: “What is the most important thing here? It’s the victims.”
She added: “It’s not people’s hurt feelings about how they’ve been spoken about. The most important thing here is the victims of these evil crimes.”
Sir Trevor hit back: “The reason this matters is because those people who raised these matters on behalf of victims, who cannot often speak for themselves, were accused by government ministers of ‘total nonsense, misinformation and racism’. Surely that’s important as well?”
But Ms Reeves said: “The most important thing is the victims themselves, and we have been busy as a government implementing the 200 or so recommendations of the previous inquiry.”
Prof Jay’s inquiry (IICSA) looked at child sexual abuse in a number of different setting. It included abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol. But there has never been a public inquiry solely focused on grooming gangs.
The PM said he would commission a national public inquiry, which will be able to compel witnesses to give evidence. It is understood that it will be national in scope, co-ordinating a series of targeted local investigations.
An independent report in 2014 found that more than 1,400 children in Rotherham, south Yorkshire were exposed to sexual abuse and violence between 1997 and 2013 by gangs of predominantly British Pakistani men.
Up to 1,000 girls were abused over 40 years in Telford, Shropshire, by men of south Asian heritage, an inquiry found, after a lengthy investigation by the Sunday Mirror. Chairman Tom Crowther QC said concerns had been ignored for decades due to “nervousness about race”.
Another high profile report found children were left at the mercy of grooming gangs in Rochdale between 2004 to 2013, carried out by predominantly Asian men.
A Home Office study in 2020 found data on the ethnicity of perpetrators was significantly limited and research found “group-based CSE (child sexual exploitation) offenders are most commonly White.”
The report added: “Some studies suggest an over-representation of Black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations. However, it is not possible to conclude that this is representative of all group-based CSE offending.”
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