A Labour MP has become the first to break ranks and publicly call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs and has urged the prime minister to “use the full power of the state to deliver justice”.
Keir Starmer and other ministers have suggested they are open-minded about a future inquiry but have said the government’s priority is acting on the recommendations of the 2022 report on child sexual abuse led by Prof Alexis Jay.
Dan Carden, who represents Liverpool Walton, told the Liverpool Echo: “The public compassion for the victims, thousands of young British working-class girls and children is real. The public call for justice must be heeded.
“It is shocking that people in positions of power could have covered up and refused to act to avoid confronting racial or cultural issues or because victims were poor and working-class.
“We must question and challenge the orthodoxy of progressive liberal multiculturalism that led to authorities failing to act. We need a new doctrine to take our multi-ethnic society into the future.”
The Conservatives used an attempt to block the government’s children’s wellbeing and schools bill on Wednesday to force a vote on calls for a new inquiry, although Carden did not record a vote.
Carden said: “Both Keir Starmer and [safeguarding minister] Jess Phillips have strong records in this area and yet the government has failed to take the high ground.
“It must communicate a clear message about whose side it is on and now direct the state to implement the rule of law without fear [or] favour and deliver justice.
“The prime minister must use the full power of the state to deliver justice. It must continue to unflinchingly pursue the perpetrators and bring to account those in positions of authority who turned a blind eye, failed to act, or gave political cover to the gangs.”
Prof Jay has previously said she would not be in favour of another inquiry, warning it would delay implementation of her recommendations.
Until Carden spoke out, the only significant Labour figure to back calls for a “limited” national inquiry was the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.
He told BBC Radio Manchester: “I will add my voice into this and say I do think there is the 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.”
On Monday, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the government would begin to implement Prof Jay’s call for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse with further details expected to be set out in the coming weeks.