The UK government has announced it will launch new local inquiries into historic child sexual abuse scandals and conduct a rapid review of child exploitation across the country, Al Jazeera reports.
This move comes after sustained criticism, including from US technology billionaire Elon Musk, over the handling of past grooming scandals involving organized groups exploiting vulnerable children.
The scandals, which date from the 1980s to at least the 2010s, saw the systematic sexual exploitation of children, with a 2014 inquiry revealing that over 1,400 children were abused in Rotherham alone between 1997 and 2013. The issue has become politically charged, particularly following a recent public dispute between Musk and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was Director of Public Prosecutions during the period when the scandals came to light.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Thursday that the government will establish a timetable to implement the 20 recommendations of a 2022 national inquiry. However, she also announced additional measures, including support for new local investigations. While she stopped short of a new national public inquiry, a demand made by Musk and the opposition Conservative Party, Cooper affirmed her commitment to tackling the issue.
The controversy ignited further after Musk voiced support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson, currently imprisoned, claiming he was jailed for “telling the truth.” Musk also made disparaging remarks about a UK safeguarding minister, labeling her a “rape genocide apologist.”
Starmer responded to the comments, though without mentioning Musk directly, stating that “those that are spreading lies and misinformation are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves.”
Musk’s public criticism, and his calls for a new national probe, have prompted some within the Conservative Party to echo his demands. In response, Home Secretary Cooper ordered a three-month “rapid audit” of gang-based child exploitation. The audit will examine “cultural and societal drivers” of the abuse and include analysis of ethnicity data related to both the perpetrators and victims.
While several local reviews will be undertaken, Cooper rejected calls for a new national inquiry, stating that “effective local inquiries can delve into far more local detail and deliver more locally relevant answers, and change, than a lengthy nationwide inquiry can provide.”
This stance was challenged by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who insisted that “local inquiries are not enough.”
