Sir Keir Starmer’s actions as Director of Public Prosecutions should be included in any public inquiry into the grooming gang scandal, Nigel Farage has claimed.
The Reform UK leader demanded the Prime Minister come under the microscope after it was revealed that Labour’s Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected calls for a national inquiry into the decades of sexual abuse inflicted on young girls in towns across England.
Farage claimed it was essential that the inquiry should expose any acts by the role of social services, police and local councils that looked to cover up the scale of the problem, including in Oldham.
However, Farage’s comments about Starmer come due to the now-Prime Minister’s five-year stint as head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Nigel Farage in Chelmsford
REFORM UK
Speaking to The Telegraph ahead of his speech at Reform UK’s East of England conference in Chelmsford, Farage said: “I don’t think the great British public really knows the truth about the scale of it – at least 50 different towns in which this happened.
“We deserve a full public inquiry. Firstly, the public ought to know how ghastly this has been and how long it’s been going on for.
“Secondly, the cover-up by the police, social services, now it looks like the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2008, which has quite big implications, and the Conservative government themselves – because of the sheer reluctance to debate this for fear of causing community tensions.”
A report by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 revealed that between 1997 and 2013, around 1,400 girls were abused and police and social services failed to intervene.
However, GB News has exclusively revealed that Phillips rejected calls for a national inquiry.
In a letter, seen by GB News, said that she believed “it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene”.
Phillips continued: “I welcome the Council’s resolution to do so, as set out in your letter, and to continue its important work with victims and survivors.”
The development resulted in Reform UK demanding justice for the young girls who were “terrorised” after decades of “appalling” abuse.
Sir Keir Starmer served as Director of Public Prosecutions
PA
Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf said: “A Reform Government will also do something that Labour refused to do and the Tories failed to do in their 14 years in Government.
“We’ll ensure a full, national, independent inquiry into the despicable crimes of grooming gangs that have terrorised young girls in this country for decades.
“This inquiry will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice for the victims and their families.
“It’ll ensure that the perpetrators, the monstrous perpetrators, and the officials who enabled them by turning a blind eye are brought to justice and are made to pay the heaviest price for their crimes.”
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson also called for all of those involved in the scandal to be “put behind bars”.
He added: “Just this week’s conference, Labour’s Jess Phillips rejected an inquiry into child sex abuse in Oldham and you have to ask yourself the question why.
“I think we all know the reason. It’s the same reason that councils, police, social workers, social services and politicians have turned a blind eye in the past. They’re worried about votes.”
Farage separately echoed calls for a grooming gangs inquiry, claiming that everyone in the country “knows the truth” and understands that “mass open-door immigration without assimilation” is a “disaster”.
Responding to GB News’ initial exclusive, a Home Office spokesman said: “No child should ever suffer sexual abuse or exploitation.
“Everyone who is responsible for children’s welfare must learn from past mistakes and do everything possible to prevent future failures.”
