Leftist UK Gov’t in Disarray Over Muslim Grooming Gang Inquiries

Britain’s left-wing Labour government faces mounting criticism, even from its own allies, over its handling of proposed child rape gang inquiries as it flip flops on what format they are to take, if at all.

Ahead of the Easter Parliamentary recess, the government admitted that funding intended to conduct local inquiries into Muslim child rape grooming gangs does not need to be spent on investigations. After outrage bubbled up over the move, the government responded the only way it knows how, accusing its opponents of “misinformation” and “weaponising” the subject before apparently u-turning on the matter and saying it would be pressing ahead with inquiries.

Sir Trevor Phillips, a former Labour politician who served as head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) quango and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was particularly critical of Labour’s prevaricating. He called the developments “utterly shameful” and said it was “so obviously political”.

The government is trying to avoid looking too closely at the grooming scandals “because of the demographic of the people involved… largely Pakistani Muslim in background, and also in Labour-held seats and councils who would be offended by it”, he said.

Amid international pressure to fully address the decades-long sexual abuse and rape of thousands of mostly young white girls at the hands of predominantly Pakistani-heritage grooming gangs and the failures and coverups conducted by local officials, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper approved £5 million to fund up to five local inquiries.

Yet, on Tuesday, one day before Parliament would break for Easter recess, Home Office minister Jess Phillips — a longtime opponent of a national inquiry — said that the government has shifted towards a “flexible approach” in which regional councils would be free to determine how they spent the money, rather than being mandated to conduct inquiries.

Although the funding could still be spent on inquiries, the government said that it would no longer be committed to conducting five. Phillips also said councils would be free to use the money for “more bespoke work, including local victims’ panels or locally led audits of the handling of historical cases.”

Conservative MP Katie Lam, who raised the issue in the House of Commons on Tuesday, told GB News: “Children across Britain have been sexually tortured by gangs of men. We must confront the reality of these crimes and how so many people in positions of power let them go on so long.”

Lam continued: “Local inquiries are not good enough — they can’t compel witnesses, they can’t look at themes across the country, and they can’t address national issues like deportation. Now the Government is watering them down even further. We won’t let them get away with it.”

Earlier this year, amid increased pressure, notably from Elon Musk and users of his X social media platform, Prime Minister Starmer ruled out a full national inquiry, which, unlike previous investigations and reports, would have legal authorities such as subpoena power.

Instead, the left-wing prime minister, who has faced accusations of potentially covering up his own role in the scandal during his time at the helm of the Crown Prosecution Service, said that the government would focus on implementing the recommendations of past reports. He went on to accuse those demanding a full inquiry of jumping on the “bandwagon of the far-right“.

Despite the dismissals from the PM, several prominent members of his own party have backed a national inquiry, including the influential Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, as well as the Labour MPs who represent the grooming hot spot constituencies of Rochdale and Rotherham.

While the a previous report from Professor Alexis Jay found at least 1,400 young girls — some as young as 11 — were systematically sexually abused in Rotherham by mostly Pakistani heritage rape gangs between 1997 and 2013, there has been little accountability for the failures of local officials.

Indeed, a 2022 investigation from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded with zero police officers being fired for failing to prevent or stop the abuse.

Although there were longstanding denials that police shied away from their duty out of political correctness, a separate IOPC report found that police in Rotherham were aware that child rape gangs were operating in the area for 30 years, but did nothing for fear of stoking “racial tensions” given that most of the victims were young white girls and the perpetrators were predominantly of Pakistani heritage.

A Home Office spokesman denied that the government was watering down its commitment to conduct inquiries, saying: “The £5m funding announced in January is being made available to local authorities to help strengthen local responses to child sexual exploitation, and all local authorities will be able to apply for funding for local inquiries or other work in this area.

“The Home Secretary has written to every local authority on our plans to support local inquiries, and after listening to local authorities about what they need, we made the decision to implement the fund in a flexible way.”

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