Keir Starmer has accepted a recommendation for a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, reversing months of resistance to a fresh review.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday he will set up a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, accepting a recommendation from Baroness Louise Casey after months of pressure over the government’s refusal to launch a new nationwide review.
The inquiry will cover England and Wales and examine group-based child sexual abuse, an issue that has drawn renewed political attention after past cases in towns including Rotherham and Rochdale exposed the sexual abuse and rape of girls by groups of men.
Starmer announced the decision while travelling to the G7 summit in Canada. He said Casey, who had been asked to conduct an audit of the available data and evidence on the nature and scale of the abuse, had changed her view after reviewing the material in recent months.
“I’ve read every single word of her report, and I’m going to accept her recommendation,” Starmer told reporters, adding that the inquiry would be statutory under the Inquiries Act. That status gives an inquiry the power to compel witnesses to provide evidence.
A senior government source said the national inquiry would coordinate targeted local investigations, including new local probes that could proceed even where local authorities do not want one. Those investigations would also be able to compel evidence and require witnesses to appear.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons on Monday, when Casey’s report is also expected to be published.
The announcement marks a shift from the government’s position at the start of the year, when ministers argued a national inquiry was unnecessary because child sexual abuse had already been examined by a seven-year inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay. Instead, Cooper ordered a rapid three-month audit led by Casey into evidence on group-based child sexual abuse, including demographics of offenders and victims and possible cultural drivers behind the offending.
Cooper also announced plans at that time for five government-backed local inquiries, including one in Oldham and four others yet to be named. Casey’s review was later delayed, with Home Office Minister Jess Phillips apologizing earlier this month and saying Casey had requested a short extension.
The Conservatives have repeatedly called for a national inquiry with powers to compel evidence. Party leader Kemi Badenoch responded to Starmer’s announcement by accusing him of a delayed reversal and saying she had been calling for a full national inquiry since January. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the decision “a welcome U-turn,” while warning that the inquiry must not become a whitewash.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, asked Sunday whether Starmer had been wrong to resist a national inquiry, said the government had “never dismissed the concerns of victims” and said Starmer had been focused on practical steps to prevent future abuse.
The next test for the government will come with Cooper’s Commons statement and the publication of Casey’s report, which should set out the findings that persuaded Starmer to authorize a statutory national inquiry.
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