The grooming gang scandal has undoubtedly been one of the worst scandals in modern Britain. While debate has once again flared up over what the response should be, the one voice that is being overlooked is that of the victims.

The interview with one of the victims in the newspaper today shows why it is important that their voice is heard. The idea that she felt “treated like a criminal” should shame the authorities.

The fear of being labelled racist shouldn’t preclude any authority from thoroughly investigating any alleged wrongdoing.

Why should there not be a wide reaching national inquiry into child sexual exploitation while also action being implemented in the here and now to protect vulnerable girls?

Professor Alexis Jay exposed the scale of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

placeholder image — Professor Alexis Jay exposed the scale of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

The reason why this scandal has come to the surface again is because there are still legitimate concerns over what is being done to tackle grooming gangs. How can authorities safely say that perpetrators are not wandering the streets? Yes, there would be a significant cost associated with a fresh inquiry but no stone should be left unturned.

Elon Musk likes to reassure his acolytes on his X platform that ‘you are the media’. And judging by his recent barrage of Tweets, people would be forgiven for believing that the grooming gangs scandal was completely overlooked by the media.

But the lid on the whole scandal was blown by Andrew Norfolk for The Times more than a decade ago. The Yorkshire Post has also been covering this story from the beginning.

This issue is too important to be turned into a political football. And to use this as a weapon against any minority would be a grave mistake. As Qari Asim explores in his Saturday Essay on community cohesion, it is about understanding the social conditions that allow criminality to prevail.