Rotherham MP Sarah Champion "hugely relieved" after PM Keir Starmer announces grooming gangs inquiry

Rotherham Central MP Sarah Champion says she is “hugely relieved” after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.

The statutory inquiry was announced by Sir Keir yesterday (Saturday, June 14, 2025) - more than a decade on from the release of Professor Alexis Jay’s explosive report which revealed the horrifying extent of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

Prof Jay went on to chair the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, calling for 20 necessary reforms to be implemented in order to reduce child suffering.

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Responding to news of the statutory inquiry, Rotherham Central MP Sarah Champion said: “Hugely relieved PM has announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs."placeholder image
Responding to news of the statutory inquiry, Rotherham Central MP Sarah Champion said: “Hugely relieved PM has announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs." | 3rd party

Sir Keir agreed to the inquiry after months of pressure to implement a full investigation, prompting suggestions from some that the move amounts to a u-turn.

Keir Starmer’s government previously said it wanted to get on with implementing recommendations from the Jay Report and IICSA.

Ms Champion, who has long campaigned on behalf of child sexual abuse victims, is among those who have been calling for a statutory report in January 2025, in a stance which differs among many within Labour’s ranks.

Responding to news of the statutory inquiry, Ms Champion posted on the social platform, X: “Hugely relieved PM has announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

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“Victims & Survivors deserve justice, abusers need to be in jail and the public needs to know the truth so we can trust our services again.”

Debates surrounding the grooming gangs scandal have been brought the fore once again in January, following a slew of comments from billionaire Tesla and X owner, Elon Musk.

Mr Musk’s comments sparked calls for a new independent inquiry into the scandal from politicians including Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

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Amid the renewed debate into the scandal, Prof Jay, acting as the chair of a group called Act on IICSA, called for the “full implementation” of her report's recommendations.

Distancing herself from the calls in Westminster for a new independent review, she said instead that the introduction of measures which she recommended two years ago was “critical.”

On August 26, 2014, a report from Prof Jay concluded that failures by police and politicians contributed to the sexual exploitation of around 1,400 children in Rotherham by groups of men in the town, predominately of Pakistani-heritage.

The report found that vulnerable young girls, who were mainly white, were treated with contempt by police officers when reports of child sexual exploitation were made.

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Men of largely Pakistani heritage were said to have been responsible for the abuse, which involved children being trafficked, raped, beaten and intimidated by men while those in authority failed to act.

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