Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was community noted on X after she called for a full national public inquiry into the UK’s “rape gangs scandal”.
Home Office minister Jess Phillips has rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation – saying the council should lead it instead.
Her decision, taken in October, was reported by GB News on Wednesday and then picked up by Elon Musk on his social media platform X, and several Reform MPs.
Badenoch’s bid to score a few political points was quickly slapped down by Reform UK leader Farage, who pointed out that the Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry.
She was also community noted over her party’s inaction on the issue when they were in charge.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.
Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt “frustrated” that none of the probe’s 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.
She said: “It’s a difficult subject matter, but it is essential that there’s some public understanding of it.
“But we can only do what we can to press the Government to look at the delivery of all of this.
“It doesn’t need more consultation, it does not need more research or discussion, it just needs to be done.”
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