Baroness Louise Casey, the author of the grooming gangs report, has said Kemi Badenoch’s response to the findings was “disappointing”, and criticised the politicisation of the issue.
On Monday, Baroness Casey published her report into group-based sexual exploitation, detailing failures at all levels by authorities to tackle the horrific crimes.
The peer had been tasked with producing an audit on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse in England and Wales. Her report found that the ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs has been “shied away from” by authorities, and criticised the “failure” of the authorities to “understand” the nature and scale of the problem to date.
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As she presented the report’s findings to MPs, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper apologised to victims and announced a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.
In response, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claimed it was her party that had forced the government into action, attacking Labour for voting against a national inquiry previously.
However, many pointed out that the Tories did nothing to address the grooming gangs scandal during their time in power, and that Badenoch herself had been in government since 2019, even holding the position of Minister for Children and Families.
Now, Baroness Casey has also criticised Badenoch and the Tories for politicising the horrific crimes committed against children.
When asked about the “politicisation” of her report on Newsnight, the peer said she was “disappointed by it, to put it mildly.”
Addressing the statements in the Commons specifically, Baroness Casey said: “I just felt, dare I say it, the opposition could have just been a bit, ‘yes, we will all come together behind you’. Maybe there is still time to do that, I think it’s just so important that they do.
“It almost doesn’t matter right now does it, what political party people are part of. We’ve identified there’s a problem, it’s been a problem a long time, and it’s about time we drew a line in the sand.”
Addressing the Commons on Monday, Cooper said: “To the victims and survivors of sexual exploitation and grooming gangs, on behalf of this and past governments, and the many public authorities who let you down, I want to reiterate an unequivocal apology for the unimaginable pain and suffering that you have suffered, and the failure of our country’s institutions through decades to prevent that harm and keep you safe.”
She added: “Baroness Casey’s first recommendation is we must see children as children. She concludes too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13 to 15-year-old is perceived to have been in love with or had consented to sex with the perpetrator.”