Shabana Mahmood makes huge grooming gangs announcement after months of fiasco | Politics | News
Shabana Mahmood has announced that former children’s commissioner Baroness Longfield will chair the investigation into gangs, after months of delays.
The Home Secretary vowed to put more “evil” gangbangers “behind bars”, confirming Ms Longfield will order local investigations in areas where serious failings are suspected to have occurred, including Oldham.
Ms Mahmood said no area could “resist” a local investigation into gangs.
He told the House of Commons: “Baroness Casey has been clear that this inquiry must be time-limited to ensure justice comes quickly for those who have already waited too long. It will therefore be completed within three years, supported by a budget of £65 million. “The inquiry will be a series of local inquiries overseen by a national panel with full legal authority.
“Baroness Longfield has confirmed that Oldham will hold a local investigation. The chairman and board will identify other locations in due course and no area will resist a local investigation.”
Ms Mahmood called for a “moment of reckoning”.
He said it was important to call the grooming ring “what the crimes are – multiple sexual assaults committed by multiple men on multiple occasions.”
The Home Secretary continued: “Children were subjected to beatings and gang rape, many contracted sexually transmitted infections, some were forced to have abortions, some had their children taken away from them.”
She said “some in positions of power turned a blind eye to the horror, even covered it up”, adding: “What is required now is a moment of reckoning.
“We must shed new light on this darkness.”
He added: “The investigation focuses specifically on child sexual abuse by grooming gangs. The backgrounds of the offenders, including their ethnicity and religion, will be explicitly addressed, as will whether the authorities failed to properly investigate what occurred due to a misplaced desire to maintain community harmony.”
“The investigation will act without fear or favor, identifying individual, institutional and systemic failure, inadequate organizational responses and leadership failures.
“He will also work hand in hand with the police where new crimes come to light, whether they are the perpetrators or those covering up the crimes. The investigation will pass the evidence on to law enforcement so they can pursue further prosecutions and put more of these bad guys behind bars.”
Baroness Casey’s explosive 200-page report concluded that crimes committed by Pakistani or Asian grooming gangs were being covered up to avoid increasing tensions in society.
Longfield will be working alongside panelists Zoë Billingham and Eleanor Kelly.
Officials added: “They will examine the actions of the police, councils, social services and other agencies at both local and national levels, ensuring that any wrongdoing or cover-up comes to light and holding those responsible to account. “Any evidence and findings from the investigation that could support putting the perpetrators behind bars will be passed on to the police.
“The statutory inquiry will have full legal authority under the Inquiry Act to compel witnesses to testify, require organizations to hand over documents and records, and make recommendations both locally and nationally to ensure nothing like this happens again.”
Ms. Mahmut said: “For years, the victims of these horrific crimes were ignored. First, they were abused by vile predators, then they found themselves belittled and even blamed, even though justice was owed to them.
“Today, I announced the chair and panel of an investigation that will shed light on this dark moment in our history.
“They will do this together with the victims of these terrible crimes who have waited too long for justice to be served.
“This investigation is theirs, not ours. So I urge everyone present to put politics aside for a moment and support this president and his panel in their pursuit of the truth.”
Sir Keir Starmer announced a national inquiry into gangs in June, following intense pressure from the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Reform England.
But the investigation was thrown into chaos in October when a group of survivors abandoned their roles in protest at how the case was handled.
He accused authorities of “denying” the extent of the gang problem.
The report also found that asylum seekers and foreign nationals were involved in a “significant proportion” of live police investigations.
An entire section of the Casey Review was labeled “Denial,” describing how public institutions used “flawed data” to dismiss claims about “Asian grooming rings” as sensational, biased or unfounded.
It was also stated that officials feared being called racists if they spoke out against Asian or Pakistani grooming gangs.
It came 24 hours after the Conservative leader said rapists with dual citizenship should be stripped of their citizenship and deported.
This includes dual citizens born in the UK, the Daily Express has revealed.
Kemi Badenoch declared that a national investigation “must leave no stone unturned”, adding that mosques could be ordered to cooperate and provide evidence.
He said: “The councils, the police and even the government should be investigated if necessary.
“It should be limited in time and take into account the role of ethnicity, religion and other cultural factors.
“Baroness Casey’s own report admitted that many of these cases were committed by people of Asian and Pakistani ethnicity.
“His own report said that those who underestimate the ethnicity of perpetrators continue to fail society, local communities and victims. We agree.
“As I said, I have spoken to many of the survivors, we speak on their behalf.
“Their lives and those of their families have been disrupted, so apart from this investigation the Government must take immediate action to ensure they and their families are supported to recover.”
Countries that refuse to take back criminals will face visa penalties, such as restrictions on how many people can come to the UK.
Ms Badenoch said: “We cannot allow people to exploit dual citizenship to avoid facing justice.
“They are foreign criminals. Too many people are taking us for a ride. They are exploiting our system.”
Explaining the policy further, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Dual nationals should be stripped of their British citizenship and deported without exception.
“We don’t want these people in our country.
“If they have citizenship in our country, they should be deported. There are no ifs, no buts.
“If a country, whether Pakistan or elsewhere, refuses to take back its own citizens, primarily people who are here illegally or people convicted of criminal offenses, then, as Kemi said, we should impose visa sanctions and suspend overseas aid to force them to take back their own citizens.
“We in the UK take back our citizens if they have been convicted of crimes abroad; it is reasonable to expect other countries to do the same.”
Mr Philp went further, telling the Daily Express that this should include grooming UK-born gang rapists.
He said: “Our policy is very clear. We must ensure justice when it comes to grooming gangs. This includes deporting all criminals who are dual citizens, regardless of where they were born.”
“These are some of the most serious and sickening crimes imaginable. The British public are tired of seeing dangerous criminals walk out of prison and straight back into the towns they terrorise.”
“And unlike Labor, who bind themselves together to avoid trouble, the Conservatives will always side with the victims.”
