English local ‘grooming gang’ inquiries to tackle ‘cultural drivers’ as calls grow for UK national probe

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says the government will launch five local investigations, costing £10 million ($17.7 million CDN), to investigate grooming gangs in England. 

The move follows demands for a full-scale national public inquiry, which the Labour government has resisted.

Cooper announced that Baroness Casey of Blackstock would lead the inquiries. 

She said the process will be modelled on the judge-led inquiry into Telford’s grooming gangs and will look at “cultural drivers” and the ethnicity of suspected offenders. 

However, critics say the plan stops short of a nationwide inquiry and will not end pressure on Labour Leader and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Earlier this month, billionaire Elon Musk accused Starmer of being “deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes.” 

Despite these claims, the government insists its approach is the right solution to tackle widespread concerns about child sexual exploitation.

In her statement to the House of Commons, Cooper asked police forces across the country to reopen child sexual exploitation cold cases. 

Cooper also said the government will release a timetable before Easter on how it will carry out the 20 recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) final report.

“Far too little action has been taken, and shamefully little progress has been made. That has to change,” said Cooper.

“Before Easter, the government will lay out a clear timetable for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the final IICSA inquiry report. We have accepted four recommendations in full, including on disclosure and barring, and work on these is already underway.”

Cooper added that a cross-government ministerial group works through the remaining recommendations, supported by a new victims and survivors panel.

Still, three Labour MPs have joined Conservatives and Reform UK in calling for a national inquiry.

This demand gained traction when Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led investigation.

Sarah Champion MP (Rotherham) is the latest Labour politician to call for a national inquiry. 

On social media, Champion said the government’s plan “looks like the government is accepting my five-point plan to prevent child abuse.”

Baroness Casey, who has led other high-profile reviews, including an investigation into the Metropolitan Police after the murder of Sarah Everard, will conduct a three-month audit of local grooming scandals. 

However, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister Chris Philp called the five local inquiries “totally inadequate,” arguing that they lack legal powers to compel witnesses and evidence under oath.