Minister rejects Burnham's call for grooming inquiry

A cabinet minister has rejected a call from Labour's Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs, while leaving the door open for a future investigation.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she disagreed with Burnham's support for a fresh inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in areas including Oldham and Rochdale, in Greater Manchester.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have both backed calls from tech billionaire Elon Musk for a new national investigation.

But Labour ministers have said their priority is to implement the 2022 recommendations of a seven-year inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay into child sexual abuse.

On Wednesday, MPs voted against a Tory move to force a fresh national investigation.

Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester he thought there was a case for a "limited national inquiry that draws on reviews like the one that I commissioned, and the one we have seen in Rotherham, the one we have seen in Telford, to draw out some of these national issues and compel people to give evidence, who then may have charges to answer and be held to account".

Asked about this on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Nandy, MP for Wigan in Greater Manchester, said: "I get the point that Andy's making."

She said he was calling for a smaller inquiry into specific issues that the one he had instigated could not pick up.

The culture secretary described it as "astonishing" that some Greater Manchester Police officers had refused to take part in that local inquiry and could not be compelled to do so.

But, she added, she did not agree with Burnham, because the Jay inquiry, set up by Theresa May's government, had taken evidence from thousands of victims and addressed the issues he had raised.

"That inquiry found what every inquiry has found, that young girls weren't believed because they were young, they were female, and they were working-class, and that the systems that were supposed to protect them protected themselves instead of protecting those brave young victims," Nandy said.

She denied the government was "cross" with Burnham, saying the whole point of devolution was "that we want to make sure that people's views are heard from across the country".

Asked whether the government was ruling out another inquiry, Ms Nandy said: "The reason I think that people have heard from us that there may at some point in the future be another inquiry is because child abuse by its very nature is hidden, it's secretive, and, at various points, I'm sure that more will come out about the scandals that we've heard."

On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would begin implementing Prof Jay's call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, with further details to be set out in the coming weeks.

The prime minister has warned that launching a further inquiry could delay action on tackling child sexual abuse, though he noted there was no "fixed view" among survivors on whether one was needed.

On Wednesday, the Commons rejected a Conservative amendment to the government's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which called for another national inquiry.

The Tories accused Labour MPs of having "turned a blind eye to justice" for victims of grooming gangs.

The bill, which includes measures aimed at protecting children and tougher rules around home-schooling, as well as changes to academies, would have been killed off if MPs had voted through the Tory amendment.

Burnham said that while he supported a limited, new inquiry, MPs were right to vote down Conservative "opportunism".

Labour peer and former deputy party leader Baroness [Harriet] Harman has also said issues raised by the grooming gangs scandal should be looked at in closer detail.

"Whether it's a task force, whether it's more action plans, whether it's a mini inquiry on this, this is something that we need to develop resilience in," she told Sky News.

Ministers have suggested they are keeping an open mind about a future investigation if it becomes clear that survivors want one, along with the implementation of Prof Jay's recommendations.

But Nandy said she had spoken to survivors who had given evidence to the Jay inquiry and had begun to lose faith in the process leading to concrete action.

"We can not possibly ask victims to go through that again when not one single one of those recommendations has been implemented.

"Our message to victims is we understand the time for action is long overdue and we are acting. The time for talking is over, the time for action is now," she said.

However, she added the government was not ruling out a future inquiry "because child abuse by its very nature is hidden, it's secretive, and, at various points, I'm sure that more will come out about the scandals that we've heard".

Prof Jay will answer questions from MPs on the cross-party Commons home affairs committee about the response to her inquiry's findings, on 21 January.