An official inquiry into the grooming gang scandal

[noumoe]

An official inquiry into the grooming gang scandal faces compromise accusations after two victims’ panel members resigned Monday, citing “disturbing conflicts of interest” in its leadership.

Under domestic and international pressure, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reversed his opposition to a statutory national inquiry—previously dismissed as “far-right”—to probe the exploitation and rape of mostly young working-class white girls by predominantly Pakistani Muslim men, plus failures by police, officials, and care workers who ignored or covered up abuses due to political correctness. Victims, often exploited for years and underage, were dismissed as “prostitutes.”

Survivor Fiona Goddard quit the Victims/Survivor Liaison Panel upon learning the chairs would include a police officer and social worker—services she said drove the “national mass rape and trafficking” cover-up. She noted her 2019 abusers’ trial excluded jurors with police or social service ties to avoid bias. Goddard also flagged panel members’ Labour Party affiliations as conflicts, especially since hotspots were Labour-run councils, and questioned Starmer’s role as former Crown Prosecution Service head amid emerging cover-up allegations. She opposed broadening the inquiry to other child abuses, as past reports sidelined grooming victims.

Fellow survivor Ellie-Ann Reynolds resigned shortly after, accusing the government of keeping victims “in the dark,” ignoring queries with contempt, and turning the process into a cover-up.

Opposition leaders decried Labour’s sabotage. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The government never wanted this inquiry—now it looks like they are sabotaging it.” Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick urged an unimpeachably impartial foreign judge to lead, given the scandal’s implication of “every arm of the British state.”