Credit: GB News
Kemi Badenoch has blamed the grooming gangs scandal on people with a “peasant background” who come from “sub-communities” within some foreign countries.
The Tory leader repeated her call for a national inquiry and said it should investigate “two cultural issues”: Where the abusers came from and the “culture of silence”.
She made the comments as pressure continues to grow on Sir Keir Starmer after a number of his MPs backed a fresh statutory investigation.
Mrs Badenoch told GB News: “There are two cultural issues which I believe have been identified.
“One is on the perpetrators’ side: Where do these abusers come from? There’s a lot of misinformation, there’s a lot of generalisation, many innocent people end up being grouped in with them.
“But if you look at it there is a systematic pattern of behaviour, not even just from one country, but from sub-communities within those countries.
“People with a particular background, particular class background, work background. People very, very poor, a sort of peasant background, very, very rural, almost cut off from even the home origin countries that they might have been in.
“They’re not necessarily first generation. The jobs that they were doing, taxi drivers, jobs which allowed them to exhibit this predatory behaviour. That is just one side.”
The Prime Minister has insisted there is no need for another inquiry following the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, led by Professor Alexis Jay, in October 2022. Sir Keir has argued victims want to see action rather than another review.
But a number of Labour figures have now joined the calls from the Tories and Reform UK for another investigation.
Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, a grooming hotspot, said “nothing less than a national inquiry into the failings of those in authority to prevent and be accountable for their failings” would restore public faith in the police and local councils.
Her intervention came just hours after Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, another grooming hotspot, said he would support an inquiry if it was backed by victims and did not interfere with live police investigations.
Ms Badenoch also said the second issue was that of the “culture of silence” and the “culture of ‘move along, nothing to see here’”.
“A national inquiry needs to look at the two cultural issues at the same time,” she said.
The Government has previously knocked back calls for a national review in favour of locally-led inquiries, saying it is focused on implementing recommendations from Prof Jay’s report.
The grooming gangs scandal gained international attention in recent weeks after Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, posted a slew of attacks aimed at the Prime Minister over the issue at the start of the year.
On Monday, Downing Street restated its position that Sir Keir was against an inquiry because it would last too long and detract from the need to implement findings from a previous report into child sexual abuse.
However, in a sign that the position could change, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said Ms Champion’s view “absolutely” carries weight and that “we will be guided and led by the victims and survivors on this”.
