Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced a landmark national inquiry into grooming gangs, following an explosive audit led by Baroness Louise Casey that found widespread institutional failings in responding to child sexual exploitation.
Expected to be published next week, the near-200-page report was commissioned earlier this year after mounting political and public pressure, including high-profile commentary by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has welcomed the government’s decision to launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs, calling it a long-overdue step that must lead to accountability—not another cover-up. “The government’s decision to launch a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal is a welcome U-turn,” Farage said. “A full statutory enquiry, done correctly, will expose the multiple failings of the British establishment. I repeat the words ‘done correctly’ — this cannot be a whitewash.”
“It’s time for victims to receive the justice they deserve and for perpetrators to face the full force of the law.”
According to Sky News, the report is expected to warn that victims, largely vulnerable white British girls—many from care homes—were “institutionally ignored for fear of racism.”
The report focuses on the grooming gang scandal that first came to light in Rotherham, where between the late 1980s and 2013, an estimated 1,400 girls were sexually abused by gangs predominantly composed of British-Pakistani men. Despite early warnings from frontline professionals and whistleblowers, authorities repeatedly failed to act.
From Rotherham to Rochdale, Derby, Oxford, Huddersfield and Telford, similar cases followed the same pattern—young girls groomed with alcohol, drugs and attention, before being raped, trafficked, and abused. Yet, as Sky News has previously reported, many agencies hesitated to investigate or prosecute, concerned about stoking racial tensions or being labelled racist.
Speaking to reporters en route to the G7 summit in Canada, Sir Keir said: “[Baroness Casey’s] position when she started the audit was that there was not a real need for a national inquiry over and above what was going on.”
“I have read every single word of her report, and I am going to accept her recommendation. That is the right thing to do on the basis of what she has put in her audit.”
Baroness Casey’s findings follow years of criticism that government bodies failed to adequately respond to grooming gang scandals.
A 2020 Home Office report was condemned as a “whitewash” by victims and campaigners after it claimed there was no evidence any particular ethnic group was disproportionately involved in child sexual exploitation.
In an interview with Sky News, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips defended the government’s shift in position, stating that she had long advocated for victim-led policy: “We listen to survivors, not to billionaires making noise on social media.”
However, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of being indecisive, “If Baroness Casey is now calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, it proves what I’ve been saying all year: only a full statutory inquiry will expose the truth, bring justice for survivors, and stop this evil from happening again.”
“Starmer must stop being a lawyer and start being a leader.”
The new inquiry will examine institutional responses to grooming gangs, the role of immigration in facilitating abuse, and the systemic failure to implement recommendations from prior investigations—including the 2014 Jay Review, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, and local reviews in Oxford, Telford and Oldham.
Sky News also reports that the inquiry is likely to probe why recommendations from earlier reports have not been uniformly adopted and whether authorities prioritised their reputations over the welfare of victims. The Casey audit reportedly paints a grim picture of ignored warnings, internal cover-ups, and a culture of denial.
For survivors, many of whom waited years to be believed, the inquiry is a long-overdue step towards justice.
“We will fight for survivors, making sure that their stories aren’t whitewashed and they receive the justice they deserve.”
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