Keighley and Ilkley’s MP Robbie Moore has called news of a national inquiry into grooming gangs a ‘day of shame’ for politicians in West Yorkshire and says he is lobbying the Home office for a specific focus on Keighley and the Bradford District.
It comes after the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin told the BBC that a national inquiry wasn’t needed last week.
The prime minister announced there will be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs following the recommendations of an audit by Baroness Louise Casey into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.
The Keighley MP, who has been campaigning for an inquiry since his election in 2019, also criticised Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe, who whipped Labour Councillors in the District to vote against a national inquiry in January and who has consistently opposed the local MPs calls for a focus on Bradford.
Mr Moore met with Jess Phillips and Home Office officials in May alongside top child abuse solicitor David Greenwood, where the pair presented officials with new data from Bradford which showed the crisis in Bradford could ‘dwarf’ that of Rotherham or Rochdale.
Reacting to news of a national inquiry, Mr Moore said:
“This national inquiry is the result of years of unrelenting pressure from survivors, their families, and from a few who refused to look away.
It is a day of shame for the leader of Bradford Council and our West Yorkshire Mayor, who have been doing everything in their power to try and prevent this outcome. They spent years undermining my work for an inquiry at every level of government, they whipped their own Councillors to vote against an inquiry back in January, and if they had their way, everything that is about to be uncovered would’ve remained forgotten forever.
Now, my focus is on two things. First, ensuring this is a proper people’s inquiry which brings criminal convictions — not simply a “mistakes were made” exercise down in London. And second, following on from my meeting with Home Office officials last month, ensuring that there is a specific investigation in Keighley and Bradford - either as part of this national inquiry or separately.”
