Grooming gang sufferers’ considerations were not brushed aside, Reeves says

Rachel Reeves has insisted ministers “never dismissed the concerns of victims” of grooming gangs, as she defended the verdict to release a countrywide inquiry after months of drive.

The chancellor stated Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was once excited about sufferers “and not grandstanding”.

Sir Keir has confronted grievance for resisting requires such an inquiry, with the Conservatives claiming they pressured him right into a U-turn.

Former detective Maggie Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police over the best way grooming instances have been treated in Rochdale, stated the Conservatives and Labour had each been “dragged kicking and screaming to this point”.

The top minister stated on Saturday he had learn an unbiased record into kid sexual exploitation via Baroness Louise Casey and would settle for her advice for an inquiry, overlaying England and Wales.

The record is predicted to be revealed on Monday and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is about to deal with the findings of the evaluate in Parliament.

At the beginning of the yr, the federal government brushed aside requires a countrywide inquiry.

Sir Keir and different ministers argued the problem had already been tested in a seven-year inquiry led via Professor Alexis Jay.

Appearing at the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Reeves was once requested whether or not the top minister have been incorrect to to begin with face up to the speculation.

She answered: “We’ve never dismissed the concerns of victims. These are the most important people in those discussions.”

Reeves stated the federal government have been excited about enforcing the suggestions of Professor Jay’s evaluate.

“But the prime minister wanted to assure himself he was doing everything that was necessary, which is why he asked Baroness Casey to do this rapid review,” she added.

When requested if Sir Keir had modified his thoughts at the want for a countrywide inquiry, Reeves answered: “Our prime minister has always been really focused on the victims, and not grandstanding but actually doing the practical things to ensure something like this never happens again.”

Ms Oliver stated the inquiry was once “an important step on the journey to change” and that Baroness Casey’s record would “lift the lid on what has been going on”.

But she stated Labour and the Conservatives had “equally failed” to confront the problem of grooming gangs, so “won’t get a single bit of thanks” from her.

“For me, I can only look at them with contempt, because I see on the ground the suffering that their neglect has caused,” she added.

Appearing at the identical programme, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride stated the verdict to release the inquiry will have to have took place “far, far earlier”.

He stated the Conservatives have been “calling for this for many, many months” and accused Sir Keir of disregarding their considerations as “some kind of far-right bandwagon”.

“That was the wrong response,” Stride stated. “This is just another example of the prime minister being pressurised by us into U-turning.”

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) stated it was once happy the top minister authorised the suggestions of Baroness Casey’s record.

But the charity’s leader government Chris Sherwood stated “a national inquiry into abuse by organised networks must not delay urgent action on child sexual abuse that is long overdue”.

He stated survivors had already waited greater than two years for the suggestions from Professor Jay’s report back to be applied.

Professor Jay’s inquiry discovered institutional failings, with tens of 1000’s of sufferers throughout England and Wales.

The seven-year investigation concluded kid sexual abuse was once “epidemic” around the two countries and made 20 suggestions within the ultimate record revealed in 2022.

The grooming gangs factor was once thrust into the highlight originally of this yr, fuelled partially via tech billionaire Elon Musk, who criticised Sir Keir for no longer calling a countrywide inquiry.

A row between the 2 centred on high-profile instances the place teams of guys, principally of Pakistani descent, have been convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly younger white ladies in cities similar to Rotherham and Rochdale.

In January, the federal government stopped in need of launching a statutory nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs, in spite of the speculation receiving enhance from some Labour MPs.

The statutory inquiry now sponsored via the top minister will be capable of compel witnesses to supply proof.

The govt has already introduced plans for 5 native inquiries, to be held in Oldham and 4 different spaces but to be named.

A senior govt supply stated the nationwide inquiry would “co-ordinate a series of targeted local investigations”.