Nigel Farage launched a blistering attack on West Yorkshire Police over their handling of grooming gang cases, expressing outrage at a “2017 tweet from Bradford police about sending warning letters regarding sexual crimes.”
In an impassioned speech at the Reform UK North West conference, Farage condemned the police response and again called for a national inquiry into the scandal.
The grooming gangs scandal is the rape and sexual exploitation of thousands of girls and young women over several decades in towns across England and Scotland by primarily Pakistani men.
Speaking about the “barbarities” Farage said: “What has become clear is we thought this was happening in six or eight northern towns.
“Charlie Peters, who is really reignited this story and is doing great work for GB News, has shown us that he has evidence that these barbarities have taken place in at least 50 towns.
NIgel Farage fumes at the “letter” that were reportedly sent
GB News
“I’m beginning to hear stories now from all over the country, including southern England as well. I don’t think any of us have any idea of how widespread this is.
“I think it is commonly known that these things are still going on, unless we get to the bottom of what has happened here, to understand the full extent and scale of what has happened here, to understand the motives behind those who perpetrated these crimes, which frankly, I believe are more than likely to be deeply racist in nature.
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“Unless we confront this head on, we are never going to have a path for stopping it in the future. And yet all through this, social services ignored what they were told, didn’t act on even what the victims themselves said.
“They frankly weren’t believed. The police in many of these towns have acted abominably.
“I saw today a tweet that was put out from West Yorkshire Police in Bradford in 2017 to say they’d written letters to warn people against crimes of a sexual nature.”
Repeating for emphasis, he continued: “Letters. They should have been interviewing, arresting, charging and putting people in prison and they weren’t doing the job.”
The Reform UK leader claimed a “two-tier” approach to policing had led to different treatment of communities, with “poor, young white girls” suffering to avoid offending “a small percentage” of Pakistani males.
Farage also issued an ultimatum to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over launching a national grooming gangs inquiry.
Speaking at the Reform UK conference, he pledged to personally fund an independent investigation if Labour fails to act by the end of January.
“If Starmer won’t do it, and I will give him to the end of the month, I will raise the money and we will hold the public inquiry,” Farage declared.
Nigel Farage gave Labour an ultimatum today
GB News
He dismissed the previous Professor Alexis Jay inquiry as “a whitewash” that “barely mentions grooming gangs.”
The Reform UK leader argued that understanding the full extent of these crimes is crucial for prevention.
“Unless we get to the bottom of what has happened here… we are never going to have a path for stopping it in the future,” he said.
