PA MediaConservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into Britain’s “rape gang scandal”.
It comes after Home Office minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into the historic sexual abuse of children – saying the council should lead it instead. should
The decision, taken in October, was reported by GB News on Wednesday and then picked up by Elon Musk on his social media platform X and several senior Tories.
Shadow Home Office minister Chris Philip told the BBC it was time for a national inquiry, with powers to “compel witnesses”, to “get to the truth”.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
A Labor spokesman said: “The Home Office supports police investigations and independent inquiries to get the truth and justice for victims.
“This government is acting urgently to strengthen the law so that these crimes can be properly reported and investigated.”
Posting on X, Badenoch said: “There have been trials all over the country in recent years but no authority has joined. 2025 should be the year victims start getting justice.”
There have been several investigations into the systematic rape of young women by organized gangs, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
The sexual abuse of young girls by grooming gangs has fueled a number of right-wing campaigns focusing on mass rapes committed mainly by men of Pakistani origin.
An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham found that 1,400 children were sexually abused over a 16-year period, mainly by British Pakistani men.
An investigation in Telford found that 1,000 girls were abused over a 40-year period – and that some cases were not investigated because of “race anxiety”.
gave Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation (IICSA)Which published its final report in 2022, it weaved together several of these inquiries along with its investigation.
Professor Alexis Jay, who led the inquiry, said in November that she felt “disappointed” that none of its 20 recommendations to tackle abuse had been implemented more than two years later. .
He said: “This is a difficult subject, but it is important that there is some public understanding of it.
“But the only thing we can do is put pressure on the government to look at the provision of all this.
“It doesn’t need more consultation, it doesn’t need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done.”
Philip told Radio 4’s World at One programme He backed Oldham Council’s call for a government-led inquiry, although the previous Conservative government rejected a similar request by an Oldham councilor in 2022.
But, he added, the “rap gang” was “a bigger question than just Oldham”.
Asked why the Tory government had not held a national public inquiry into such groups, Philip pointed to the IICSA but added “I don’t think it was as comprehensive on the subject as it should have been”.
Philip said: “We need a proper national inquiry to look at all these issues in all the affected towns. And I’m afraid to say it’s 15 to 25 different towns, with thousands and thousands of victims. are.”
He argued that questions about the conduct of local authorities, the police and social care needed to be answered at a national level. Philip also did not rule out an inquiry given the role of Sir Keir Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
He said an inquiry should examine why criminals in “grooming gangs and rap gangs” appeared to be “overwhelmingly of South Asian background”.
In a post on X, shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Cairns urged Phillips to release “ethnic data” that the Conservatives had begun collecting on people accused of child sexual abuse and grooming. He was arrested on the charge.
Responding to Badenoch, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Talk is cheap. The Conservatives have had 14 years in government to launch an investigation.
“The establishment has failed the victim of grooming gangs at every level.”
The Oldham Inquiry
In 2022, an independent inquiry by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority found that “serious failings” by the police and council led to vulnerable children in Oldham being sexually abused.
But the report was criticized for its limited scope, focusing on cases between 2011 and 2014.
In July, Oldham Council, led by a Labor minority administration, The Home Office has been asked to carry out a full inquiry into historical abuse in the area.
Phillips rejected the request, pointing to council-run inquiries in Rotherham and Telford, which he argued had more legitimacy because they were commissioned and delivered locally.
In a letter to the council, the safeguarding minister said she recognized the “power of emotion” but believed that “rather than government intervention, Oldham Council should simply have a local inquiry into child sexual abuse”. to decide”.
Conservative Oldham councilor Lewis Quigg said the decision was “not good enough.”
A spokesman for Oldham Council said: “Survivors are at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.
“Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not back down from that commitment.”
On X, Musk accused Sir Kiir of failing to properly prosecute “rape gangs” when he was director of public prosecutions.
But the tech billionaire himself was accused of “rewriting history” by Nazir Afzal, appointed by Sir Kiir as the special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation, and a number of convictions against other grooming gangs. was supervised.
Mr Azfal said: “Under Starmer’s leadership we finally tackled abuses that were previously poorly tackled.”
Musk – who has been handpicked by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency – also criticized Phillips, saying she “deserves to be in jail” for her response to Oldham Council.