More inquiries into child grooming gangs could take place in addition to the five confirmed, a Home Office source has told Sky News after the government was accused of backtracking on its promises.
The confusion over whether the inquiries were still going ahead began after Home Office minister Jess Phillips failed to provide an update on the reviews in a statement to parliament, and instead said local authorities would be allowed to choose how to spend the £5m in funding they had been given to tackle grooming gangs.
Her statement – made an hour before parliament rose for Easter recess – led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils choice over how to use the funds.
Sky News understands Ms Phillips will now host a briefing with MPs this afternoon at 5pm – the second she had held in 24 hours in an attempt to calm concern amongst her colleagues.
This morning Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, denied suggestions that the “victim-centred, locally-led inquiries” she announced in January were not going ahead.
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Asked by Anna Jones on Sky News whether the government was “watering down” its response, Ms Cooper said: “No, completely the opposite.
“What we’re doing is increasing the action we’re taking on this vile crime.”
The home secretary pointed to the rapid audit that is being carried out by Baroness Louise Casey, which will bring together the data gathered so far on grooming gangs and consider the lessons that should be learned at a national level.
She added: “Most important of all, what we’re doing is we’re increasing the police investigations, because these are dangerous perpetrators and again, they should be behind bars.”
‘Fuelling confusion’
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, told Sky News that ministers were “fuelling confusion”.
“The government snuck this announcement out at the last minute – it’s a total mess that could have been avoided if the government backed a full national inquiry, not this piecemeal alternative.
“The victims have waited too long and deserve so much better than this.”
Demands for a national inquiry into the scandal – in which girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago – grew louder this year after tech billionaire Elon Musk accused Labour of failing to act on the issue on his social media platform X.
The government refused to hold a national inquiry, citing the work carried out by Professor Alexis Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse that looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014.
However, it did commit to holding local inquiries in five areas backed by £5m in funding and advised by Tom Crowther KC.
‘Political mess’
As well as facing criticism from the Opposition, ministers are facing a backlash within the Labour Party following Ms Phillips’ statement.
On Tuesday, she told MPs: “Following feedback from local authorities, the fund will adopt a flexible approach to support both full independent local inquiries and more bespoke work, including local victims’ panels or locally-led audits into the handling of historic cases.”
One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a “political mess” and that they were being called “grooming sympathisers”.
On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the “right thing to do” but that it was “horrible politically”.
“We are all getting so much abuse. It’s just political naivety in the extreme.”
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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said on Wednesday that she was “absolutely astonished that Labour has dropped what it said it would do in January”.
“They are clearly uncomfortable with having inquiries that are looking into this issue,” she said.
“They said that they’ll have a pot of money for councils to bid in, but why would a council bid for money to investigate itself?
“We need something that is national. We need a statutory inquiry so we can compel witnesses, and I’m going to make sure that we force another vote.”
‘We will leave no stone unturned’
Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was “far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors”.
“We are funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey… is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country.
“We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven-year national inquiry when they had the chance.
“We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children.”
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