Sir Kier Starmer has announced a full national inquiry into grooming gangs
The Prime Minister announced his decision on the way to the G7 meeting in Canada saying the move was on the recommendation of the Casey Review
He told reporters that “[Baroness 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. She has looked at the material and 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. That is 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 has done that job for me and having read her report…I shall now implement her recommendations.
Oldham Council leader Arooj Shah said that she welcomed the move
“We met with Baroness Casey during the review period to put forward the concerns of local survivors and those who have been affected. We used this opportunity to stress the importance of an inquiry which compelled witnesses and had statutory powers, and the need for accountability for professionals who were complicit in the abuse.
“We have not shied away from the issue of CSE in Oldham; we are and will continue to confront the issue without prejudice. We know that child abuse is perpetrated by people of all races and religions, and is inflicted on people of all races and religions. As I have always said, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask questions about any drivers of this very specific type of offending. We need to do more to understand why this particular pattern of abuse is more prevalent among some groups of men. To say so is not racist. It is what we must confront if there is to be justice.
“Nobody I have spoken to, from any community, wants to see anything other than for these men to be punished to the full extent of the law. Just in the past week, seven men have been convicted of these offences. I hope when they lock these disgusting men up, they throw away the key.
“This is why we are already in the process of commissioning Tom Crowther KC to chair a local inquiry into CSE. Our priority now is to work with the home office to understand how our local inquiry is aligned with the national inquiry to get the answers that survivors and those affected so desperately want and deserve.”
