Rotherham MP backs calls for national grooming gang inquiry into 'failings of those in authority'
13 January 2025, 17:58
Two Labour MPs from towns at the centre of the grooming gang scandal have backed calls for a national inquiry into the child exploitation rings to hold authorities accountable for their "failings".
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Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, announced that “nothing less than a national inquiry into the failings of those in authority to prevent and be accountable for their failings” would restore public trust in public bodies.
It comes after the MP warned last week that another inquiry would mean “another 10 years of waiting”.
She added that it was also vital to implement the recommendations of the previous inquiry into the scandal, led by Prof Alexis Jay.
But Ms Champion stressed that the failures of those in authority at the time must also be investigated.
It came just hours after Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, also called for an inquiry.
Rochdale was another hub of child exploitation gangs, although most of the crimes are thought to have occurred in Rotherham.
Some 1,400 girls in the town are believed to be victims of grooming which occurred between 1997 and 2013.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has come under intense pressure to launch another national inquiry following the intervention of US-based tech tycoon Elon Musk.
Sir Keir has blasted the billionaire for spreading “lies and misinformation” about the scandal online. Dan Carden, representing Liverpool Walton, became the first Labour MP to call for the national inquiry earlier this week.
He told The Liverpool Echo: “The public compassion for the victims, thousands of young British working-class girls and children is real.
The public call for justice must be heeded.“It is shocking that people in positions of power could have covered up and refused to act to avoid confronting racial or cultural issues or because victims were poor and working class.”
Other Labour figures, including Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Labour peer Baroness Harriet Harman, have also backed calls for a new probe into grooming gangs.
Starmer has defended his record of prosecuting child grooming gangs and said those "spreading misinformation are not interested in the victims".
Speaking with LBC last week, Public Health minister Andrew Gwynne told Matthew Wright the government is taking new recommendations seriously after earlier inquiries into Telford and Rotherham.’
Also last week, grooming gang survivor Samantha Walker-Roberts, 31, told LBC she believes she was raped by as many as nine men in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in 2006 aged 12.
When the case went through the courts, four were prosecuted. Speaking on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, she said just one ended up in prison. Shakil Chowdhury, then aged 39 - was jailed in 2007, for six years after admitting six counts of rape. He served only three years in prison.
Another man fled because the judge gave him his passport back, Ms Walker-Roberts said.Police have never been able to track the other rapists down, Ms Walker-Roberts said.
