https://sputnikglobe.com/20250109/labour-tories-and-britains-sordid-grooming-gang-saga-decades-of-silence-and-inaction-explained-1121393132.html
Labour, Tories, and Britain's Sordid Grooming Gang Saga: Decades of Silence and Inaction Explained
Labour, Tories, and Britain's Sordid Grooming Gang Saga: Decades of Silence and Inaction Explained
Sputnik International
Prime Minister Starmer’s Labour Party has blocked a Tory-led push for a new probe into the so-called grooming gang scandal afflicting the UK, with a bill on the matter defeated 364-111 on Wednesday. What are grooming gangs? Is the government trying to hide or understate their significance? What’s at stake? Here’s what to know.
2025-01-09T14:37+0000
2025-01-09T14:37+0000
2025-01-09T16:05+0000
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“Grooming gangs” involve groups of Britons, mostly of Pakistani descent, engaging in the systematic sexual exploitation of children, mostly girls, in communities across the UK.The grooming gang scandal, hushed up for years to avoid uncomfortable questions about immigration and integration policies, blew up after a grisly 2012 Times’ report about grooming gang activity in Rotherham, England, although localized reporting on the criminal activity goes back to at least 2003.A follow-up 2014 study by respected academic Dr. Alexis Jay found that 1,400+ children were ‘groomed’ in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 alone.The national shock from the revelations sparked local inquiries, uncovering evidence of similar exploitation in towns and cities across England, from Oxford and Rochdale to Oldham and Telford.In 2015, Dr. Jay was tapped to lead a national probe, which she completed in October 2022, uncovering an “epidemic” of abuse. Besides grooming gangs, the comprehensive probe, which included hundreds of interviews and testimony by sernior officials, and the processing of some 2.5 million pages of evidence, looked into exploitation by state institutions and the church.The report demanded “urgent” action, with its 87 policy recommendations including mandatory reporting of child sex crimes, more stringent standards for persons working with children, full-time attention to the problem via a minister for children, etc. In early 2024 and again last week, Jay lamented that many of her report’s recommendations have gone unheeded.Elon Musk brought fresh attention to the issue last week in a tirade of explosive X posts charging Starmer and Labour of enabling grooming gangs and halting probes into suspected crimes.In reality, successive Conservative governments have also taken little action to crack down on the crimes over their 14 years in power, with the Tories admitting as much this week and suggesting that now is the time to “start to listen to the victims” so that “the truth about what happened in all these places” can come out.Labour has sought to highlight the new inquiry’s expense (the last one cost £186.6 mln) amid a severe budget crunch, and accused the Tories of “playing politics” “after spending years failing to implement Professor Jay’s recommendations.”On Thursday, Jess Phillips, parliamentary under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, made the shock admission that grooming gangs exist "in every single part of the country."
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what are grooming gangs, where are uk's grooming gangs, does britain have grooming gang problem
what are grooming gangs, where are uk's grooming gangs, does britain have grooming gang problem
Labour, Tories, and Britain's Sordid Grooming Gang Saga: Decades of Silence and Inaction Explained
14:37 GMT 09.01.2025 (Updated: 16:05 GMT 09.01.2025) Prime Minister Starmer’s Labour Party has blocked a Tory-led push for a new probe into the so-called grooming gang scandal afflicting the UK, with a bill on the matter defeated 364-111 on Wednesday. What are grooming gangs? Is the government trying to hide or understate their significance? What’s at stake? Here’s what to know.
“Grooming gangs” involve groups of Britons, mostly of Pakistani descent, engaging in the systematic sexual exploitation of children, mostly girls, in communities across the UK.
The grooming gang scandal, hushed up for years to avoid uncomfortable questions about immigration and integration policies, blew up after a grisly 2012 Times’
report about grooming gang activity in Rotherham, England, although localized reporting on the criminal activity goes back to at least 2003.
A follow-up 2014 study by respected academic Dr. Alexis Jay
found that 1,400+ children were ‘groomed’ in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 alone.
The national shock from the revelations sparked local inquiries, uncovering evidence of similar exploitation in towns and cities across England, from Oxford and Rochdale to Oldham and Telford.
In 2015, Dr. Jay was tapped to lead a national probe, which she completed in October 2022,
uncovering an “epidemic” of abuse. Besides grooming gangs, the comprehensive probe, which included hundreds of interviews and testimony by sernior officials, and the processing of some 2.5 million pages of evidence, looked into exploitation by state institutions and the church.
The report demanded “urgent” action, with its 87 policy recommendations including mandatory reporting of child sex crimes, more stringent standards for persons working with children, full-time attention to the problem via a minister for children, etc. In early 2024 and again last week, Jay lamented that many of her report’s recommendations have gone unheeded.
Elon Musk
brought fresh attention to the issue last week in a tirade of explosive X posts charging Starmer and Labour of enabling grooming gangs and halting probes into suspected crimes.
In reality, successive Conservative governments have also taken little action to crack down on the crimes over their 14 years in power, with the Tories
admitting as much this week and suggesting that now is the time to “start to listen to the victims” so that “the truth about what happened in all these places” can come out.
24 December 2024, 04:43 GMT
Labour has sought to highlight the new inquiry’s expense (the last one cost £186.6 mln) amid a severe budget crunch, and
accused the Tories of “playing politics” “after spending years failing to implement Professor Jay’s recommendations.”
On Thursday, Jess Phillips, parliamentary under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, made the shock
admission that grooming gangs exist "in every single part of the country."
