Conservative leader Kimmy Badenoch has met survivors of grooming gangs in Oldham and Rotherham, describing the meeting as “quite shocking”.
Speaking to GB News, he said it was “unusual” to hear that victims had “several times gone to the authorities… and in one particular case the police accused him, a 12-year-old, of abusing her”. handed over to those”. .
Badenoch has been calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, but has faced criticism after reports she has so far failed to meet any victims.
On Monday, Sarah Champion, the Labor MP for Rotherham, joined growing calls for a full investigation, saying “nothing less… will restore confidence in our security system”.
Speaking to GB News on Monday evening, Badenoch said she was “going to do everything, and the Conservative Party is going to do everything, to make sure you [survivors] justice will be served”
Pressed on why the previous Conservative government had not held an inquiry into the grooming gangs, he said: “I think we thought the inquiries we launched would be enough.”
“I thought ‘Oh, there’s an inquiry, let’s see what it turns out to be,’ and what we’ve seen is that we’ve had multiple foreign inquiries. They’re not enough. Let’s Do more,” he said.
Badenoch said she believed a new national inquiry should look into what she called a “systematic pattern of behaviour” among some communities in the country.
“The people are from very, very poor, peasant backgrounds – very, very rural, almost cut off even from their home countries where they might have lived,” he said. He added that they are not necessarily the first generation.
He said there was a need to address the “culture of silence” in the state.
Between 1997 and 2013, several areas of the country – including Oldham and Rotherham – were ravaged by gangs of men, mostly of Pakistani origin, who raped and trafficked children as young as 11.
one Independent reportPublished by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014, it was estimated that 1,400 girls were abused in Rotherham.
She would later lead the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation (IICSA), which lasted seven years and made 20 recommendations.
Professor Jay has previously said victims want to see his recommendations acted upon, rejecting calls for a new inquiry
There has also been a series of local reviews into child sexual exploitation in Manchester, Rochdale and Oldham, published between 2020 and 2024, and found that authorities were mainly sexually exploiting children by gangs of Asian men. Failed to protect from exploitation.
And in recent weeks, the Conservatives and Reform have been calling for a new national inquiry into UK grooming gangs.
Members of Parliament earlier this month Voted against the Tory measure. to force a new national inquiry.
Asked if the reason for not calling a national inquiry was because politicians could be implicated in a cover-up, and whether the Labor Party was opposing an inquiry, Badenoch said it was “definitely something On which we have to look.” .
“I don’t understand how, when they have so much support even from their own MPs… more and more people are coming out of Labour, and we don’t have a culture of fear,” he said. Can,” he said.
“I’m not afraid, the Conservative Party is under new leadership. What we’ve done before is clearly not enough to deal with this, we need to do more, and Labor needs to get on board. And if they don’t, I think they’ll have some serious questions to answer when the time comes.”
of Rochdale Labor MPs joined calls for a new full inquiry on Monday.saying child sexual abuse is “endemic” in the UK and should be a “national priority”.
Champion, who has been campaigning for child protection for more than a decade, said: “I have long believed that if we really want to protect children, we need to understand the nature of crime and public institutions. Failures in response must be fully understood.”
He called for the recommendations of the IICSA report to be implemented “in full, with a timetable and ring-fenced resources”.
Two other Labor figures from affected areas – Rochdale MP Paul Waugh and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – have also called for a limited new inquiry.
But Downing Street has said its priority is to implement the recommendations of the IICSA report, due to be published in 2022.
Last week, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said one of the report’s key proposals – mandatory reporting – To be included in the Crime and Policing Bill.
Number 10 said on Monday that there would be “a range of views” on the issue of the new inquiry, and that the government would “lead and be guided by victims and survivors.”