A number of people have got in touch wanting more details about the important vote on a national enquiry into rape grooming gangs this week and the story behind it.
Beyond the emotive and provocative language in the papers and social media this week, it’s important to remember the victims of this almost unimaginable abuse. I’ve set out some of the background of events so far below.
On Wednesday 8 January, Labour MPs voted down a Conservative amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill calling for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
A national inquiry was first commissioned by the Conservative Government in 2014 in response to a specific report from Professor Alexis Jay on grooming gangs in Rotherham. Professor Jay was then chosen to lead the national inquiry. Multiple local reports and inquiries have taken place alongside the national inquiry. However, we now know that the original inquiry, which addressed six places, only scratched the surface of the scandal. Recent reporting of the scandal has uncovered new details, and seen more victims come forward, relating stories almost too graphic and shocking to read. It now appears that between 40-50 towns and cities in the UK are connected to the scandal.
The Conservative amendment to the Bill was tabled in response to calls in July on the ground in Oldham for a national inquiry. A new inquiry would join up the dots of the various local inquiries, and would be given legal powers that local inquiries don’t have, such as the powers to summon witnesses, take evidence under oath, or requisition evidence. Labour rejected that call last week, which the Council only made after Labour lost majority control in May.
In response to the Jay Report, which was published in 2022, the Conservative Government went beyond the recommendations that were made by launching the Grooming Gangs Taskforce, which has led to over 550 arrests and the protection of over 4,000 victims. Only the announcement of the General Election meant that we didn’t go even further through passing the Criminal Justice Bill.
Sadly Labour MPs were whipped to vote our call for a national inquiry down. They argue that to support our call would mean measures in their Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would be dropped. This is nonsense however, as they are the ones that control Parliamentary time, and could have brought those measures in whenever they liked.
