Blitz Bureau
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced there will be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs. The scandal, which revealed how gangs of mostly Pakistani men had groomed, trafficked and raped young white girls more than a decade ago, returned to the political agenda this year after U.S. billionaire Elon Musk criticised the British Government, reported Reuters.
Starmer said he had accepted the recommendations of an audit by Baroness Louise Casey into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse. Baroness Casey has recommended a national inquiry is required, he said. The inquiry will cover England and Wales.
The Government had earlier dismissed calls for a national inquiry, saying it had already been examined in a seven-year inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay.
But speaking to reporters on his way to the G7 summit, Starmer said, “I’ve never said we should not look again at any issue,” reported BBC. He added that Baroness Casey had originally thought a new inquiry was not necessary, but she had changed her mind having looked into it in recent months.
“She’s come to the view there should be a national inquiry on the basis of what she’s seen,” he said. “I’ve read every single word of her report, and I’m going to accept her recommendation. “I think that’s the right thing to do, on the basis of what she has put in her audit.
“I asked her to do that job, to double-check on this. “She’s done that job for me, and having read her report… I shall now implement her recommendation.” He added that it “will take a bit of time” to set up the inquiry, but added that “it will be statutory under the Inquiries Act”. This means the inquiry will be able to compel witnesses to provide evidence. BBC quoting a senior Government source said the inquiry would “co-ordinate a series of targeted local investigations”.
