Analysis

Any new inquiry into grooming gangs must have victims at its centre - something lacking from online discourse

After Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, decided that grooming gangs were going to become his new obsession, there was no doubt that the scandal was going to rise to the top of the political agenda once again.

Amongst his midnight rants, the Tesla billionaire said both Sir Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips deserve to be in prison, praised career criminal Tommy Robinson and suggested the US should invade the UK.

All of this hyperbole on social media has drowned out the voices of victims and turned the scandal into a political football.

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Let’s go through the facts of the matter to try and make sense of an issue that has always been contentious.

Concerns of grooming gangs in towns like Rotherham and Keighley were largely ignored for years by police forces and councils.

When people tried to raise the alarm, publicly like Ann Cryer and privately like Dr Angie Heal, they were ignored and at worst abused and shunned.

This led to a number of inquiries like the Jay Report, which found at least 1,400 children were abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, and the Casey Review, which found the South Yorkshire town’s council silenced whistleblowers.

Sir Keir Starmer (left) has fired a broadside in the wake of comments made by X owner Elon MuskSir Keir Starmer (left) has fired a broadside in the wake of comments made by X owner Elon Musk
Sir Keir Starmer (left) has fired a broadside in the wake of comments made by X owner Elon Musk | PA/NationalWorld

Some MPs have been raising this issue for years.

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However, it appears others have jumped on the bandwagon since Mr Musk brought the topic up.

Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick have both been very vocal in calling for a national inquiry, however until last week had never mentioned “grooming gangs” in the House of Commons in their extensive careers as MP and government ministers.

In the first Prime Minister’s Questions of the year, Ms Badenoch told Sir Keir to listen to victims before it emerged she, in fact, had not met any.

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The thoughts of victims have to be at the centrepiece of whatever work goes forward.

She described the current situation as “woeful” and said “it’s our duty as a state to help them rebuild”.

When I was speaking to Mr Moore about his encounters with victims of grooming gangs in his constituency, he was left speechless when talking about the abuse they had suffered.

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These people have gone through so much, the last thing they deserve is to become a political football in a Westminster argument.

So whether you believe in a national inquiry or ones at a local level, we must have the voices of victims at the centre of this debate.

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