Labour MP breaks ranks to call for national grooming inquiry

Dan Carden delivers a speech in the House of Commons
-Credit:PA Media


Dan Carden, the Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, has publicly supported calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs. He's urged the party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, to "use the full power of the state to deliver justice".

In an interview with The Liverpool Echo, Mr Carden expressed his concerns: "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.

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"We must question and challenge the orthodoxy of progressive liberal multiculturalism that led to authorities failing to act. We need a new doctrine to take our multi-ethnic society into the future.

"This is not an obsession of the far-right," and pointed out the lack of vocal opposition within his own party: "over the decades there have been far too few Labour voices expressing clear disgust and outrage at these heinous crimes, their cover-up and the lack of action."

This comes as pressure mounts on the Prime Minister for an inquiry, especially after Elon Musk's recent online criticisms.

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Conservatives pushed for a block on the Government's Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill this Wednesday, leveraging it to call for a vote demanding a new inquiry.

Despite not logging a vote, Mr Carden remarked on Saturday: "Both Keir Starmer and (safeguarding minister) Jess Phillips have strong records in this area and yet the government has failed to take the high ground. It must communicate a clear message about whose side it is on and now direct the state to implement the rule of law without fear (or) favour and deliver justice.

"The Prime Minister must use the full power of the state to deliver justice. It must continue to unflinchingly pursue the perpetrators and bring to account those in positions of authority who turned a blind eye, failed to act, or gave political cover to the gangs."

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer remains against the idea of a new inquiry, focusing on the enforcement of recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, led by Professor Alexis Jay.

Along with its main findings, the inquiry put out a detailed 200-page supplemental report specifically discussing abuse by organised networks in February 2022. Previously, Prof Jay has voiced her opposition to another inquiry, suggesting that it could delay the rolling out of her suggestions.

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Until Mr Carden's intervention, the only significant Labour figure to back calls for an inquiry was Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. This move was said by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to have added to the "immense" pressure on the Prime Minister.

Speaking at his party’s North-West regional conference on Saturday, Mr Farage reiterated his pledge that Reform would launch its own inquiry if the Government did not act by the end of January. Describing the previous Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse as a "shotgun approach", he said a new inquiry needed to be a "rifle shot" dealing with gangs "predominantly of Pakistani origin" preying on "young, in most cases working-class white girls".

His speech came a day after the director of the National Police Chiefs Council’s Hydrant programme targeting sexual abuse said there was no "significant issue" with "any particular ethnicity or setting". Richard Fewkes said data released on Friday "reflects what you would expect to see across the country" and "people involved in grooming gangs were "predominantly white".

New figures from the police database show that, where ethnicity data was available, 85% of "group-based" child abusers were white in the first three quarters of 2024. The same data for the whole of 2023 showed 83% of offenders were white. Previous inquiries into areas where grooming gangs operated have found they targeted children. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, speaking on Saturday, sounded the alarm about the consequences of "irresponsible and coarse public discourse" related to grooming gangs potentially leading to violence against Muslims.

On the following Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declared the Government's commitment to implementing Professor Alexis Jay’s recommendation for making the reporting of child sexual abuse mandatory, with detailed plans to be announced shortly.

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The issue has drawn significant public attention, according to a poll by More in Common, which found that many believe the Government's response to grooming gangs is insufficient. Data from the survey revealed that 60% of participants felt the current Labour Government had not done enough, while the previous Conservative administration drew criticism from 69% of those polled.

Additionally, over half of the 2,011 respondents expressed little to no faith in the justice system's handling of child exploitation allegations, and 41% perceived that the actions of grooming gangs had been purposefully obscured.