Kemi Badenoch calls for national inquiry into ‘rape gangs’

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into Britain’s “rape gang scandal”.

It comes after Home Office minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual abuse – saying the council should lead it instead.

Their decision, taken in October, was reported by GB News on Wednesday and then raised by Elon Musk on his social media platform X and several senior Tories.

Shadow Home Office minister Chris Phillips told the BBC it was time for a national inquiry, with powers to “compel witnesses to come forward” to “get to the truth”.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

Posting on social media, Badenoch said: “There have been lawsuits across the country in recent years, but no officials have been involved. 2025 should be the year victims start getting justice.”

There have been several investigations into the systematic rape of young women by organized gangs, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.

The sexual exploitation of young girls by cosmetics gangs has sparked several far-right campaigns, focusing primarily on cases of mass abuse perpetrated by men of Pakistani origin.

An investigation into abuse in Rotherham found that 1,400 children were sexually abused over a 16-year period, mainly by British Pakistani men.

An investigation in Telford found that 1,000 girls were abused over 40 years – and that some cases were not investigated because of “nervousness about race”.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, combined many of these investigations with its own investigation.

got it The gangs targeted vulnerable children and the sexual exploitation of children was described as an “epidemic that leaves thousands of victims under its toxic influence”.

Professor Alexis Jay, who led the inquiry, said in November that she felt “disappointed” that none of its 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years later.

“It’s a difficult topic, but it’s important that some people have some understanding of it,” he said.

“But we can only do what we can to put pressure on the government to pay attention to the delivery of all this.

“It doesn’t need much consultation, it doesn’t need much research or discussion, it just needs to be done.”

philip Told on Radio 4’s World at One program The Conservatives backed Oldham Council’s call for a government-led inquiry, but said the “rape gangs” were a “bigger question than Oldham”.

Philip said: “Although there have been investigations in the past, such as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, their scope was much wider.”

“We need a proper national inquiry to look at all these issues across all the towns that are affected. And I’m afraid to say that, you know, this involves 15 to 25 different towns, with thousands more Thousands of victims are involved.”

He argued that questions over the conduct of local authorities, police and social care needed to be answered at a national level, and he did not rule out an investigation given the role of Sir Keir Starmer, who was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013. Were. ,

Philip also said the investigation should examine why perpetrators of “grooming gangs and rape gangs” appear to be “overwhelmingly of South Asian background”.

Responding to Badenoch, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Talk is cheap. The Conservatives have had 14 years in government to launch an investigation.

“The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs at every level.”

Asked why the previous Tory government had not launched a national public inquiry into such gangs, Philip pointed to IICSA but said, “I don’t think it was, frankly, as comprehensive on this topic as it should have been.” Was”.

In 2022, an independent investigation by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority found that “serious failings” by the police and council led to vulnerable children in Oldham being subjected to sexual exploitation.

But the report was criticized for its limited scope, focusing on cases between 2011 and 2014.

In July, Oldham Council, which is led by a Labor minority administration, asked the Home Office to conduct a full investigation into historical abuses in the area.

Phillips rejected the request, pointing to council-run inquiries in Rotherham and Telford, which he argued had greater validity because they were locally commissioned and delivered.

In a letter to the council, the security minister said she recognized “the strength of feeling” but believed “the decision to conduct an investigation into child sexual abuse at a local level is for Oldham Council alone, not the The government has to intervene in this”.

Conservative Oldham councilor Lewis Quigg said the decision was “not good enough”.

An Oldham Council spokesperson said: “Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.

“Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not go back on that pledge.”

At the X, Musk accused Sir Keir of failing to properly prosecute “rape gangs” while he was director of public prosecutions.

But the tech billionaire himself was accused of “rewriting history” by Nazir Afzal, who was appointed by Sir Keir as a special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation, and has multiple convictions against other grooming gangs. Had monitored.

Mr Azfal said: “Under Starmer’s leadership we finally tackled these abuses, which were previously poorly handled.”

Musk – who has been chosen by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead the new Department for Government Efficiency – also criticized Phillips, saying he “deserves to be in jail” for his response to Oldham Council.