Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has branded the Home Office’s rejection of an Oldham grooming gang inquiry an “outrage”, accusing Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips of letting down victims.
Speaking to GB News, Braverman said the refusal to support Oldham Council’s request for a formal investigation had failed those “whose lives have been destroyed by the grooming gang scandal”.
The Home Office has formally rejected repeated requests for a Government-led inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham.
Braverman argued that localised, independent reports, such as the one Oldham Council is requesting, are “absolutely the right thing that the Government should support”.
Suella Braverman hit out at Jess Phillips over her ‘refusal’ to investigate Oldham grooming gangs
PA / GB News
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, in her response to Oldham Council, acknowledged “the strength of feeling” for a further inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the borough.
However, Phillips maintained that “it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene”.
Reacting to the decision on GB News, the former Home Secretary took aim at Phillips, branding the decision an “outrage”.
She fumed: “It’s an outrage, frankly, that Jess Phillips and this Home Office team have refused to do so.
“They’ve let down victims and those whose lives have been destroyed by the grooming gang scandal.”
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When asked whether she agrees with the Ipso judgement that her claim about grooming gangs being mainly comprised of “British Pakistani men” was “misleading”, Braverman defended her remarks, telling GB News: “I disagree with the judgment by Ipso.
“I think that we’ve had a decade’s worth of reports from the original Alexis Jay report into Rotherham, to the Louise Casey report, to the more recent Alexis Jay report in 2023 when I was Home Secretary.”
She added: “We’ve had independent reports into Telford, Rotherham, Rochdale, each of which concluded that the perpetrators were mainly and overwhelmingly from Pakistani Muslim heritage. So that’s independent experts saying that, that’s not me making it up, that’s the fact.”
Oldham Council is currently working with survivors to ensure their voices are heard regarding future investigations.
Braverman told GB News that local inquiries have a ‘key role to play’ in helping the victims of grooming gangs
GB News
A council spokesman emphasised: “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.”
The council had also voted to commission an independent inquiry should the Home Office refuse their request.
A Home Office spokesman stated: “No child should ever suffer sexual abuse or exploitation. Everyone who is responsible for children’s welfare must learn from past mistakes.”
The council has made contact with Telford, another area affected by similar scandals, to explore various inquiry options.