All the times Starmer resisted a grooming gangs inquiry
Sir Keir Starmer has stood by his claim that Tories calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs were 'jumping on the bandwagon of the far-Right'.
Downing Street's official spokesman said the Prime Minister had been 'specifically' referring to Tory ministers who had 'done nothing' to tackle the grooming gang scandal while in Government.
The comments came after Sir Keir announced an about-turn to approve a national inquiry into the scandal after repeatedly rejecting demands from senior Tories, campaign groups and victims.
He said he had changed his mind after a national inquiry was recommended by Baroness Casey following her review into the scale and nature of grooming gangs.
He added that it was the 'right thing to do' after having read 'every single word of her report.'
Asked to justify his criticism after the about-turn, Sir Keir's spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister's comments about bandwagons were specifically about ministers from the previous government who sat in office for years and did nothing to tackle this scandal.
'And as the Prime Minister said: 'We will not make the same mistake.' The point the Prime Minister has made [is] that those spreading lies and misinformation were not doing so in the interest of victims.
'And those cheerleading for Tommy Robinson, who was jailed for almost collapsing a grooming case, are not interested in justice, and members of the previous government did not implement any of Alexis Jay's recommendations, but then called for an inquiry when it became politically convenient.
'The Prime Minister also told Parliament in January that, again, 'reasonable people can agree or disagree on whether a fear of the inquiry is necessary' but he has always been focused on getting on with getting justice for the victims of child sexual abuse.'
Here are all the instances when Sir Keir rejected calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
January 6, 2025
'Politicians are jumping on far-Right bandwagon'
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The Guardian
15 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Casey report forces Starmer's hand on issue that has haunted Labour for decades
Louise Casey's decision to recommend a national inquiry into grooming gangs has forced Keir Starmer's hand on an issue that has haunted the Labour party for decades. The failings of UK institutions to protect young girls from widespread abuse by gangs of men will remain high on the political agenda for another three years. A 197-page report produced by Lady Casey has called for wholesale changes to rape laws; requested that criminal convictions applied to abuse victims be quashed; and suggested that five existing local inquiries into grooming gangs be coordinated by an independent commission with full statutory inquiry powers. But it is the issue of the ethnicity of the perpetrators that will resonate as the most explosive political issue arising from its pages. Casey could only find data from three forces, but, using publicly available material from the police and reports, concluded that suspects were disproportionately likely to be Asian men. The impression remains that Casey's conclusion – that a three-year, time-limited national inquiry must be launched – has caught the prime minister on the hop. Once again, he was forced into what appears to be a damaging U-turn. Some Labour MPs have said that a prime minister more attuned to his 'red wall' backbenchers would have ordered an inquiry after taking office in July, and claimed credit for grasping an issue that the Tories ignored for years. Instead Starmer in January refused to endorse demands led by Elon Musk who was backed by the Tories, Reform and some Labour backbenchers for a national inquiry into grooming gangs. . Launching another inquiry comes with some jeopardy for Starmer. It will likely be seized upon by the far right and used to galvanise activists such as Tommy Robinson. Casey's report calls for a radical improvement in the collection of data, particularly around ethnicity, because two thirds of police forces have failed to record the ethnicity of perpetrators. Casey argues that there is enough evidence from just three forces to show 'disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects'. She also claims there are a 'significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity identified in local reviews' and 'high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions' to warrant further inquiries. There are concerns that community tensions may increase after the identification of 'men from Asian ethnic backgrounds' as groomers, at a time when there has been a record rise in anti-Muslim incidents across the UK. Police continue to worry that there could be a repeat of last summer's riots, which were inspired by far riot conspiracy theories around immigration and the identity of the Southport killer. It could also risk smearing Asian and Pakistani males as potential paedophiles, despite evidence to the contrary. The available data is patchy, but a November report by the child sexual exploitation taskforce suggested that a higher proportion of perpetrators of all forms of child sex abuse are white. Asked by the Guardian if highlighting the issue of ethnicity could lead to civil unrest, Casey said that new data must be investigated. 'If good people don't grip difficult issues, in my experience bad people do,' she said. The inquiry itself will examine the policies and decisions made by social workers and youth workers employed by predominantly Labour councils. Questions will be raised about what local MPs – often Labour MPs – knew, and why they failed to expose it. The worth of launching another expensive inquiry into child sex abuse has already been questioned by some of those who initially exposed grooming gangs. A seven-year national statutory inquiry, the independent nquiry into child sexual abuse, chaired by Prof Alexis Jay, covered the time period investigating abuse in children's homes, the church and Westminster and scrutinising institutional responses to child sexual exploitation – including grooming gangs. It involved more than 7,000 victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, including through the Truth Project, which gave survivors the opportunity to share their experiences and put forward suggestions for change. Nazir Afzal, the prosecutor who helped to jail members of the Rochdale grooming gang, said he has 'pragmatic doubts' about launching another national inquiry, adding that they were costly and lengthy, and could not bring people the accountability they wanted. He said: 'People want accountability. I'm not sure people's expectations will be realised. Only criminal investigations can bring real accountability. That's what needs to happen. Not just for those who offended, but also those who stood by and didn't do what they were meant to do. 'Unfortunately my experience with national inquiries is that they take forever and don't deliver accountability.' In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
Starmer insists he will not ‘massage the figures' as he vows to shut all migrant hotels properly
Keir Starmer has insisted that the Home Office will not be buying up hotels and changing their use to 'accommodation centres' in a bid to ensure he keeps his pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029. Speaking to journalists accompanying him to the G7 in Canada, Sir Keir insisted that there would be no attempt to 'massage the figures' on the pledge to stop using taxpayer-funded hotels to house asylum seekers. The issue was raised after the promise to stop paying for hotels was made in the spending review by chancellor Rachel Reeves. It comes as the prime minister held talks with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni to discuss imposing sanctions on people smugglers. Despite increasing numbers of asylum seekers making the dangerous journey across the Channel in small boats, the move to ban migrant hotels is expected to save at least £1bn, according to Treasury estimates. Sir Keir said: 'On the question of hotels, what I want to do is to reduce the number of hotels and get rid of the use of hotels. 'I'm absolutely clear why we're in this problem – it's because the last government didn't process the claims. So it left people in limbo where they couldn't be removed because they hadn't been processed, so they couldn't leave the country or be removed from the country. There were tens of thousands of people in a pool that was ever-expanding. 'That's not good – certainly not good for the taxpayer – and I intend to change that. And that's why we're working so hard on processing the claims as quickly as we can. Because when you process the claims you can then remove people who shouldn't be here hence the 30,000 that have been removed which is the highest number for the best part of a decade now. That's the way to drive this down.' He went on: 'We are determined to get those hotels shut, and properly shut, and not massaging the figures. I'm not interested in that. Shutting the hotels is what I'm absolutely focused on.' The prime minister also revealed that he planned an unofficial mini-summit at the G7 with French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Mertz and Ms Meloni over the continued issue of illegal migration across Europe. A readout from his Sunday evening meeting with Ms Meloni noted: 'They had a lengthy discussion on migration, confirming that they would continue working together on innovative solutions to break the criminal model of irregular migration. 'The Prime Minister raised the UK's world-leading work on people smuggling sanctions, adding that he looked forward to working with other European countries on this approach.' On the flight over he insisted that he was not frustrated with the French over their failure to prevent thousands of migrants from getting into small boats to cross the Channel. This comes despite anger expressed on the issue by defence secretary John Healey over French inaction despite the UK paying £400m to France to help tackle the problem. Sir Keir said: 'One of the things we've worked hard at is improving the relations with the French in relation to the work we both need to do to stop these boat crossings, which I'm determined we will absolutely bear down on. Nobody should be making that journey. 'As a result of that we are seeing a much greater cooperation in northern France - I want to see more cooperation in northern France, and it's an issue that I have raised and will raise again with President Macron. We have good relations between the Home Secretary and the Interior Minister now that we're working on jointly. 'It's one of the issues I'll be discussing - not just with Macron, actually, but discussing it with Georgia Meloni, Freidrich Merz, and others.'
The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Child sexual abuse victim criticises ‘smug' Badenoch over grooming inquiry
A victim of child sexual abuse has hit out at 'smug' Kemi Badenoch as he accused the Conservative leader of politicising the grooming gangs scandal. Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde said he was 'really let down and disgusted' by Mrs Badenoch's party political response to the national inquiry. Labour's Dan Aldridge also spoke of his experience of 'sexual and psychological abuse' as a result of grooming, during the Home Secretary's statement in the Commons. The MP for Weston-super-Mare said he 'found it galling' to listen to Tory and Reform MPs 'who never once lifted a finger'. Mrs Badenoch earlier said it was left to the Conservatives to 'force' action on grooming gangs 'time and time again'. The Opposition leader said: 'They accused those of us demanding justice for the victims of this scandal as and I quote 'jumping on a far right bandwagon', a claim the Prime Minister's official spokesman restated this weekend, shameful. It has been left to Conservatives time and time again to force this issue.' She added: 'We went further than those recommendations. It was the Conservatives who established the grooming gangs taskforce, which supported police forces to make 807 arrests for group-based child sexual exploitation last year. So don't tell me we did nothing. 'There are legitimate concerns about institutions investigating themselves, especially as some of the most egregious cases of institutional failure occurred in Labour-controlled authorities. They can moan as much as they like but the people out there believe that is why nothing has happened yet.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Baroness Casey's report 'sets out a timeline of failure from 2009 to 2025'. She added: 'Repeated reports and recommendations that were not acted on, on child protection, on police investigations, on ethnicity data, on data sharing, on support for victims. 'For 14 of those 16 years, her party was in government, including years when she was the minister for children and families, then the minister for equalities, covering race and ethnicity issues and violence against women and girls, and I did not hear her raise any of these issues until January of this year.' Speaking of his own experiences of abuse, Mr Babarinde said 'the horror, the trauma, the guilt never leaves you'. The MP for Eastbourne said: 'As a survivor of child sexual abuse myself, I stand in solidarity with the many victims and survivors that the system has failed over many, many years. 'And I can say that the horror, the trauma, the guilt never leaves you, and I so hope that every survivor who is identified here receives the mental health support and otherwise they deserve to rebuild their lives. 'Survivors have witnessed very many promises, 20 recommendations, and the call of 'never again', time and again. What will the Home Secretary do and how will she reassure them that this won't be another one of those examples?' He continued: 'I am really let down and disgusted that the leader of the Opposition began her remarks with a party political assault on her opponents like this. Victims and survivors deserve more than a smug 'I told you so', diatribe. Victims and survivors deserve action.' In her reply, Ms Cooper said his speaking out would help other victims and confirmed the Government wants to extend therapy available for victims. Later in the session, Mr Aldridge said: 'I want to pay tribute to victims, survivors and campaigners. I am 40 years old, and it has taken me to be 40 to be able to talk about some of the abuse that happened when I was a child. 'As one of the countless victims living with the impacts of grooming, sexual and psychological abuse, I found it galling to watch Tory and Reform members who never once lifted a finger.' In response to groans from the Opposition benches, he added: 'No, you didn't. You didn't.' Mr Aldridge accused opposition parties of 'appointing themselves as defenders of abuse for political gain', adding: 'Does the minister agree with me that neither history nor the British people will be kind to the sickening political opportunism we have seen from the parties opposite?' Ms Cooper thanked Mr Aldridge for 'speaking out about his experiences, because to speak out as a victim of child abuse in this way is immensely difficult, and I think everyone should listen to what victims and survivors have to say'. She added: 'He is right that this should be something that everyone can agree on, because it's about the protection of children, it's about the tackling of serious crime, and I would hope that is something that all of us can do with respect and together.' Elsewhere in the session, Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, said blaming 'entire communities' does 'nothing to protect innocent victims'. She said: 'British Muslims stand on the side of victims and support the full force of the law against all perpetrators of abuse. 'But would the Home Secretary agree with me that those that display selected outrage or fan the flames to blame entire communities do nothing to protect innocent victims or further the cause of victims?' In her reply, Ms Cooper said 'the horror at crimes committed against children and particularly against young girls' is 'shared right across communities'. 'It is in the interests of those children and of those victim survivors that we have reforms now,' she added.
