IN June, then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a national inquiry into the grooming and rape gangs that have terrorised children across this country for decades.
In the , she said: “Justice delayed is justice denied, and so many survivors have already waited far too long for justice.”
Four months on and we have still heard nothing of the rape gang enquiry
Baroness Louise Casey’s report laid bare some of the horrors our children have enduredCredit: PA
, which laid bare some of the horrors our children have endured, had just been published.
claimed the nightmares laid out in the report would be addressed in full and at pace.
So you might think that the Government would work to uncover the truth about these gangs — the greatest state disgrace in living memory — very quickly indeed.
Instead, the way
In January, when was still calling the issue a “far-right bandwagon”, the Home Secretary refused to hold a national inquiry but said the Government would conduct five local inquiries.
Only one specific location, Oldham, was given.
Barrister Tom Crowther KC was invited by the to oversee the work and ensure it was independent.
In April, Mr Crowther told the Home Affairs Select Committee he knew almost nothing of the progress of these local inquiries.
had no plan and had made no progress.
It attempted instead to downgrade its commitments from inquiries to “related work”, using “a more flexible approach”.
When we complained about this in , the Government tried to spin this as an upgrade, not a downgrade.
They insisted this would mean there would be more local work, not less.
And how did that pan out? Well, it is now October, and nothing has happened.
No further locations have been announced, and the only development in Oldham has been an attempt by the Government to demote the inquiry to a “truth project”.
What about the which the Home Secretary so belatedly and reluctantly announced in June? Has that moved any faster? Not a bit of it.
From the beginning, we were told this inquiry would happen fast.
Investigate these horrors
, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said in the Commons: “The inquiry is expected to run for two to three years, enabling it to examine a broad range of issues while honouring Baroness Casey’s recommendation that it must be time- limited to deliver answers swiftly — a key request not just from victims and survivors but from Members from across this House.”
Four months since it was first announced, we learn instead that it has stalled.
No chair has been appointed and the Government has not shared any draft terms of reference.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the delay is partly due to
All child sex abuse is appalling. To understand these horrors, though, we must investigate them specifically.
It is equally important that this really is a national inquiry — and not just a co-ordination of local work
Katie
We have already had an independent inquiry into child sex abuse. It took seven years. A re-run of that will help nobody.
The inquiry did not investigate every football match, nor should it have done.
There has been an inquiry into child sex abuse.
Back in January, Starmer was still calling the issue a ‘far-right bandwagon’Credit: Getty
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper previously refused to hold a national inquiry but said the Government would conduct five local inquiriesCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
But that is not a specific inquiry into the specific phenomenon of groups of mostly Asian men grooming and sexually torturing mainly white children, facilitated and covered up by those in the British state whose job it was to look after them.
, and it deserves a dedicated inquiry.
It is equally important that this really is a national inquiry — and not just a co-ordination of local work.
This is partly because the local work simply isn’t happening.
But it’s also because only a statutory national inquiry can compel witnesses, identify national trends and networks, and address national policy issues (like how to deport these criminals where they are foreign citizens).
We must have a national inquiry. It must be specific. It must happen now.
This is what victims and survivors have been promised, and it is what the British public has been promised.
Tens of thousands of victims and perpetrators across dozens of towns were covered up by the British state.
And nobody — not one official, social worker, police officer or politician — has been prosecuted for it.
We deserve to know the horrors committed and covered up by the state in our name, and we deserve to know now.
Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips is also responsible for letting down victimsCredit: Nicola tree 
