Starmer announces national inquiry into grooming gangs

Sir Keir Starmer has announced that there will be a statutory inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal after accepting the recommendation of a government commissioned report by Baroness Louise Casey.

The government has previously resisted a new inquiry into the scandal, instead allowing five councils to set up their own investigations in towns where girls were abused.

Ministers argued that another national inquiry would delay justice for victims, by prolonging the wait for recommendations from previous inquiries to be implemented.

Baroness Casey was asked to review the cases and her report, which is expected to be published in full this week, recommends a new national inquiry to directly examine the persistent allegations that the perpetrators’ race was a factor in the failure to investigate the cases.

The decision comes shortly after the latest conviction of seven men who sexually exploited two vulnerable teenage girls in Rochdale.

Greater Manchester Police said the men were convicted after a long-running trial involving a total of 50 offences, including rape and indecency with a child, which occurred between 2001 and 2006.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard that the two victims were “passed around for sex, abused, degraded and then discarded” and that the men had subjected the girls to years of misery.

Speaking on his way to the G7 summit, which begins in Canada today, Starmer said: “I’ve never said we should not look again at any issue.

“Baroness Casey 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 said the start of the inquiry might be delayed while the details are arranged but stressed it would have a statutory footing under the Inquiries Act allowing witnesses to be compelled to give evidence.

Kemi Badenoch, the opposition leader, called for the prime minister to apologise for the delay.

“Keir Starmer doesn’t know what he thinks unless an official report has told him so. Just like he dismissed concerns about the winter fuel payment and then had to U-turn.

“I’ve been repeatedly calling for a full national inquiry since January. It’s about time he recognised he made a mistake and apologise for six wasted months,” Badenoch said.

Ousted Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, who launched a privately funded informal inquiry into the rape gangs, welcomed the decision last night.

He said: “Starmer has done the right thing. We launched the Rape Gang Inquiry because politicians lacked the moral fortitude to fight for the victims of these despicable crimes.

“Uncomfortable questions about how such a scandal was allowed to unfold in our country were simply going unanswered.”

His crowdfunded inquiry has raised £618,000, including many donations from anonymous donors.

“This is a huge victory for the tens of thousands of you who have supported our cause, but will not in itself guarantee justice,” Lowe said last night.