'Dismissed and silenced': Grooming gang victims insist Jess Phillips must quit after inquiry thrown into chaos by panel resignations
The survivors have demanded the resignation of Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips as a condition for engaging with the inquiry
Victims of grooming gangs say they will only rejoin the inquiry into the scandal if Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips resigns from her role.
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In a joint letter, all the survivors who quit the inquiry earlier this weeks over claims of a toxic environment said they will not engage with it unless Ms Phillips resigns.
In the letter addressed to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, the survivors made clear their conditions for returning to the probe.
The five demands were:
- Jess Phillips's resignation as Safeguarding Minister.
- All survivors are consulted on the appointment of a chair for the inquiry.
- Victims are free to speak openly with their support networks.
- The inquiry remains "laser-focussed on grooming gangs and group-based child sexual exploitation".
- The current victim liaison resigns and is replaced with an independent mental health professional.
In the letter, the survivors said: "When we agreed to join this panel, we did so in good faith, believing that after decades of being dismissed, silenced, and called liars by the very institutions meant to protect us, things might finally be different.
"Instead, we have watched history repeat itself.
"We raised legitimate concerns about the inquiry's direction based on our direct experiences in the process that you called 'justified', and in response, your safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, called our accounts 'untrue'.
"Evidence has since proven we were telling the truth. Being publicly contradicted and dismissed by a government minister when you are a survivor telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again. It is a betrayal that has destroyed what little trust remained.
"These are not unreasonable demands. These are the basic standards we need to have any faith that this inquiry will be conducted with integrity."
The letter concludes: "We will not participate in an inquiry that repeats those same patterns of dismissal, secrecy, and institutional self-protection."
The intervention comes after LBC exclusively revealed that Jim Gamble, a former senior police officer, had withdrawn from consideration to become the chair of the probe.
Mr Gamble, who previously chaired the National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command, was one of two candidates chosen to lead the Inquiry.
Mr Gamble stepping back came after it was revealed that social worker Annie Hudson, who previously chaired the government's Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, had stood back from the process.
In response, a Home Office spokesperson said: “The grooming gang scandal was one of the darkest moments in this country’s history.
“That is why this Government is committed to a full, statutory, national inquiry to uncover the truth. It is the very least that the victims of these hideous crimes deserve.
"We are disappointed that candidates to chair that inquiry have withdrawn. This is an extremely sensitive topic, and we have to take the time to appoint the best person suitable for the role.
“The Home Secretary has been clear: there will be no hiding place for those who abused the most vulnerable in our society.”