Grooming gangs investigations in Bradford and Keighley are a step in the right direction
The grooming gangs scandal is a stain on the nation’s collective conscience. The victims whose lives have been destroyed at the hands of these vicious criminals need to see accountability and that simply cannot be achieved without full disclosure.
It is clear that this scandal did not just happen in isolation. Putting child abusers behind bars is not enough.
Multiple agencies failed to protect children in communities across the country. Otherwise there is no way that so many of these gangs could have operated for as long as they did and as brazenly as they did.
That is why the announcement from the grooming gangs inquiry that Bradford and Keighley are to face local investigations is to be welcomed.
As Robbie Moore, the Conservative MP for Keighley, who campaigned for an inquiry focusing on his constituency, says “no-one will be able to hide”, described the decision as a “watershed moment”.
No stone must be left unturned, regardless of how uncomfortable the questions are.
The inquiry has been itself marred in controversy with victims voicing concerns over who would chair it and the initial dithering from the Government.
However, former children’s commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield is the right person to lead the £65m three-year inquiry, which has the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents. If anyone can restore confidence that accountability will be delivered over this scandal, it is Baroness Longfield.
The inquiry must examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response. There can be no cowering in fear of accusations of racism, if there is to be no stone left unturned.