Yvette Cooper made an ‘unequivocal’ apology to grooming gang victims today as she published a ‘damning’ report into failures – and finally triggered a national inquiry.
The Home Secretary said that those who had suffered ‘despicable crimes’ had been ‘let down’ by the authorities.
She told the House of Commons that Baroness Casey’s ‘no holds barred’ review had identified ‘deep-rooted failure to treat children as children’, ‘denial’ and ‘fragmentation’.
The Whitehall troubleshooter found perpetrators of Asian heritage were ‘overrepresented’ in cases, suggesting institutions had ‘avoided the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist’.
Ms Cooper also said there was a ‘continued failure to gather proper robust national data’. A national inquiry will be set up oversee local investigations, she said.
She told MPs that all adults who engage in penetrative sex will under-16s would now face the most serious charges of rape.
Ms Cooper has already declared that Britain’s version of the FBI will lead ‘a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators’.
The National Crime Agency investigation has been billed as ‘helping to put an end to the culture of denial in local services and authorities about the prevalence of this crime’.
The statement came after Keir Starmer‘s made an humiliating U-turn over the weekend.
The conclusions sparked a dramatic volte face from the PM over the weekend. He previously suggested those calling for a national probe into the rape and sexual abuse of thousands of girls by gangs of mainly Pakistani-heritage men were ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ of the ‘far-Right’.
Downing Street stood by the premier’s ‘bandwagon’ jibe today, arguing he was pointing out hypocrisy by Tories who had failed to tackle the issue while in power.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that those who had suffered ‘despicable crimes’ had been ‘let down’ by the authorities
A review by Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey concluded that years of warnings about abuse of white girls were institutionally ignored ‘for fear of appearing racist’
The conclusions sparked a dramatic volte face from Keir Starmer over the weekend
Setting out ‘next steps’ following Baroness Louise Casey’s probe into grooming gangs, Ms Cooper told the Commons: ‘Baroness Casey’s first recommendation is we must see children as children.
‘She concludes, too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13 to 15-year-old is perceived to have been in love with or had consented to sex with the perpetrator.
‘So, we will change the law to ensure that adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 face the most serious charge of rape, and we will work closely with the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) and the police to ensure there are safeguards for consensual teenage relationships.
‘We will change the law so that those convicted for child prostitution offences while their rapists got of scot-free will have their convictions disregarded and their criminal records expunged.’
Speaking in Canada, where he is attending the G7 summit, Sir Keir avoided addressing questions about whether he would apologise.
‘Well, grooming is a vile offence, absolutely vile, and I brought the first prosecution when I was chief prosecutor 15 years ago now. So I’ve seen the impact directly on victims,’ he said.
‘There have been a number of inquiries with very many recommendations. I took the view that we should implement those recommendations because they’ve been sitting on a shelf. Vitally important we do for things like mandatory reporting that we’ve already brought into place.
‘But as a safeguard, I asked Louise Casey to look again, do an audit to see if there’s anything that had been missed. She’s carried out that audit. She’s presented that to me. I’ve read it in full, and on the basis of what she’s found, she says there should be a National Inquiry.
‘I’ve looked at her report, I’ve considered that material. I think she’s right, and that’s why it’ll be a national inquiry. It will be a statutory inquiry. It will go wherever it needs to go.’
Lady Casey’s report said: ‘Instead of examining whether there is disproportionality in ethnicity or cultural factors at play in certain types of offending, we found many examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems.
‘It is right for police forces and local authorities in particular to pay attention to potential impacts of any investigation on community cohesion, particularly given the history of riots and other disturbances based on racial tensions in many cities that happened in the early part of the 2000’s and subsequently.’
The report said: ‘The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more.
‘Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years. Child sexual exploitation is horrendous whoever commits it, but there have been enough convictions across the country of groups of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds to have warranted closer examination.
‘Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation. In a vacuum, incomplete and unreliable data is used to suit the ends of those presenting it.
‘The system claims there is an overwhelming problem with White perpetrators when that can’t be proved.
‘This does no one any favours at all, and least of all those in the Asian, Pakistani or Muslim communities who needlessly suffer as those with malicious intent use this obfuscation to sow and spread hatred.’
Overnight Ms Cooper said: ‘More than 800 grooming gang cases have already been identified by police after I asked them to look again at cases which had closed too early.
‘Now we are asking the National Crime Agency to lead a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators and bring them to justice.’
Ministers are said to be concerned that Lady Casey’s findings could trigger civil unrest in parts of the country unless they are seen to be acting decisively.
But it has emerged that Sir Keir’s ‘national’ inquiry could focus on attacks in as few as five communities.
Campaigners believe grooming gangs have been and remain active in as many as 50 towns and cities.
Although it will have vital powers to compel public bodies such as councils and the police to give evidence, critics warned that ministers must not restrict its scope.
In January, the PM hit out at politicians ‘calling for inquiries because they want to jump on the bandwagon of the far-Right’.
But speaking to reporters en route to the G7 summit in Canada over the weekend, Sir Keir said: ‘Her 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 she has looked at 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 respect her in any event. I shall now implement her recommendations.’
Asked when it would start work, the PM replied: ‘It will be statutory under the Inquiries Act. That will take a bit of time to sort out exactly how that works and we will set that out in an orderly way.’
He insisted that he had never ruled out a national inquiry although he previously wanted to focus on implementing recommendations made in earlier reports.
‘From the start I have always said that we should implement the recommendations we have got because we have got many other recommendations. I think there are 200 when you take all of the reviews that have gone on at every level and we have got to get on with implementing them.
‘I have never said we should not look again at any issue. I have wanted to be assured that on the question of any inquiry. That’s why I asked Louise Casey who I hugely respect to do an audit.’
Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted yesterday that the focus should be on victims rather than apologising to ‘hurt feelings’ of other politicians.
Robbie Moore, Tory MP for Keighley and Ilkley who wants an inquiry into grooming in West Yorkshire, was among those warning the terms must be right
Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted yesterday that the focus should be on victims rather than apologising to ‘hurt feelings’ of other politicians
A No10 spokesman said today: The prime minister’s comments about bandwagons were specifically about ministers from the previous government who sat in office for years and did nothing to tackle this scandal. As the prime minister has said, we will not make the same mistake.
‘The point the PM has made is that those spreading lies and misinformation were not doing so in the interest of victims. And those cheerleading for Tommy Robinson, who was almost who was jailed for almost collapsing a grooming case, are not interested in justice.’
The Labour MP for Rotherham said she was initially reluctant about another ‘grooming gangs’ inquiry but supported it after listening to the public.
Sarah Champion told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that the 20 recommendations from the previous inquiry ‘sat in a drawer for a while’ but were now starting to be used.
She said: ‘The thought of having another filled me with horror, and I was reluctant, but when I realised the overwhelming public concern, there’s a real sense justice has not been handed out fairly and there has been a cover-up and intense frustration that there are still victims and survivors who haven’t received justice.
‘I have an intense frustration that not the frontline staff but further up the management chain there were people who were actively blocking reports, people who I think if not held to a criminal standard should be held to a professional standard for their negligence in protecting those children.
‘I saw people that would have faced the most criticism have left, took early retirement, changed to a different job and some are having very successful careers, and that’s an intense frustration when because of their negligence they have continued to let children be exposed and exploited.’
She said the biggest failing was that ‘no-one has joined the dots up’ when it came to grooming gangs of a Pakistani heritage.
She said: ‘Are there any links between those different groups and gangs? Personally, I think it’s highly likely that there will be.’
Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and journalist, told Times Radio: ‘I think that ministers owe an apology to all of the people who they essentially said were talking rubbish, to all the people who to whom they said you haven’t actually bothered to read the Jay Report and you don’t know actually what’s going on and to all of the people of whom it was suggested their interest and concern about this was motivated in some way by racial distaste or prejudice.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘The public deserves the truth in full, and without compromise and those who covered this up should be investigated for misconduct in public office.’
Robbie Moore, Tory MP for Keighley and Ilkley who wants an inquiry into grooming in West Yorkshire, said: ‘If this inquiry is to deliver real justice, it must go much further than simply rebranding the five local inquiries already announced by Labour.
‘In my view, this must truly be a people’s inquiry – with investigations in the 50 towns and cities we know have been affected and new accountability mechanisms that can bring about criminal convictions.’
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the inquiry had to be ‘done correctly’. He added: ‘This cannot be a whitewash. It’s time for victims to receive the justice they deserve and for perpetrators to face the full force of the law.’
Oldham grooming gang survivor Samantha Walker-Roberts said Sir Keir had only ordered an inquiry because he was ‘backed into a corner’. She told Times Radio that the PM still does not have survivors’ ‘best interests at heart’.
