British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday said he is now ready to support a national inquiry into grooming gangs that sexually abused thousands of young girls across the country. This is a change from his earlier position, as he had previously opposed calls for a formal review.
The decision comes after growing public pressure and fresh demands for action over how such serious abuse was not properly dealt with by the authorities for many years.
The scandal, which came to light over a decade ago and exposed how gangs of mostly Pakistani-origin men had groomed, trafficked, and repeatedly raped young white girls, has resurfaced in the political spotlight this year.
The issue regained prominence after US billionaire Elon Musk sharply criticised the British government, reigniting public debate and prompting renewed scrutiny of past failures by authorities to act.
‘Institutionally Ignored’
Interior minister Yvette Cooper in January asked Louise Casey, a former senior official, to undertake a “rapid audit” of the scale and nature of gang-based exploitation in Britain.
Casey’s report is expected to say that vulnerable white British girls were “institutionally ignored” by police and local authorities fearing being accused of racism, Sky News reported on Saturday.
“(Casey’s) position when she started the audit was that there was not a real need for a national inquiry, over and above what was going on,” Starmer told reporters en route to the G7 summit in Canada on Saturday.
“She has come to the view that there should be a national inquiry on the basis of what she has seen. I have read every single word of her report and I am going to accept her recommendation,” he added.
Need A Quick Resolution
The Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer had to be led by the nose to make what she said was the correct decision.
“I’ve been repeatedly calling for a full national inquiry since January,” she said.
“Many survivors of the grooming gangs will be relieved that this is finally happening. But they need a resolution soon, not in 10 years’ time.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
