Grooming gangs inquiry is 'less about truth and more about cover-up', Nigel Farage blasts

Grooming gang survivors fear Labour's national inquiry is "less about the truth and more about a cover-up", Nigel Farage declared.

The Reform UK leader said thousands of women have been "failed, ignored and slandered by every British institution" as he accused the Government of delaying a probe.

Reform UK on Thursday ramped up calls for a Parliamentary commission into "the industrial-scale rape of British girls by gangs of largely Pakistani Muslim men".

Serving and former police officers, social workers, former MPs and council chiefs could all be compelled, under oath, to give evidence under Mr Farage's plans.

Reform's five MPs said Dame Karen Bradley, the chairwoman of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, could "bring the power back to Parliament" and "restore public confidence in British justice".

Mr Farage, writing in the Daily Express, declared: "Having first voted down a national inquiry, and then reluctantly agreeing to set one up, Keir Starmer's Labour government has dithered, delayed and done nothing to make it work.

"Last week Ellie-Ann Reynolds, a victim-survivor of grooming gangs who resigned from the inquiry panel, told me that this shambles of a Government inquiry is "less about the truth and more about a cover-up".

"Enough is enough.

"For far too long, these women have been failed, ignored and slandered by every British institution.

"Our sovereign Parliament has the power finally to set that record straight, deliver some overdue answers, and in the process restore public confidence in British justice."

Survivor Ellie-Ann Reynolds previously blasted Labour's attempt at a national inquiry into the scandal saying it was "rigged from the start".

Labour's attempts to hold a national inquiry descended into farce after victims quit a key liaison panel, whilst both candidates to chair the probe withdrew from the process.

Sources have admitted it will take months to find a new chair, with critics insisting it must be a judge.

The five Reform MPs, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Lee Anderson, Danny Kruger and Sarah Pochin added in a letter to Dame Karen: "Given the regrettable shambles of the government's inquiry, we are calling on you to bring the power back to Parliament and launch a Joint Commission of both Houses to summon witnesses, under oath, to give evidence and finally get the justice which these victims deserve.

"Parliament has the power to act, and your Committee could be at the centre of this, doing the right thing and working cross-Party to deliver much overdue answers."

A massive review of cases involving alleged rape gangs has found 'human error' led to some police investigations being dropped.

Thousands of cases are set to be reviewed as part of Operation Beaconport, a national project to unearth failures to tackle grooming gangs.

So far 1,273 files from 23 police forces have been referred to the National Crime Agency-led review, of which 236 are being examined as a priority because they involve allegations of rape.

NCA deputy director Nigel Leary said initial reviews suggest there were mistakes in some of the investigations.

But Rotherham survivor Sammy Woodhouse blasted the claim.

She declared: "It was not human error that hundreds of thousands of children in the UK were groomed, abused, raped, tortured, trafficked, and murdered - while people in power were complicit, blamed and ignored the victims, criminalised them, intimidated them, drugged them, and even removed their children to give them to the men who raped them and then fined or arrested their parents for trying to stop it.

"They're complicit and should be criminally charged."

Mr Leary told journalists: "Initial reviews have identified that in some cases where there has been a decision to take no further action (NFA), there were available lines of inquiry that could have been pursued.

"We've seen in those cases what appears to be potentially human error.

"We've seen in some cases that those investigations haven't followed what we would characterise as proper investigative practice, actually that would have contributed to the NFA decision.

"That includes, for example, lines of inquiry being identified but not being followed, victim accounts not being taken in a way that we would recognise as best practice, and suspects not being pursued or interviewed in the ways that we would anticipate."

Operation Beaconport is reviewing cases between January 1 2010 and March 31 2025, with thousands expected to come under scrutiny.

Mr Leary said: "This is going to be a phenomenally large undertaking.

"It will be the most comprehensive investigation of its type in UK history.

"We estimate that over the life cycle of the operation, it will involve thousands of officers from across policing."

Officials are recording the ethnicity of suspects and victims as part of the review, and have found gaps in the existing data that they are trying to fill.

As they examine cases they aim to flag any dangerous suspects, and any that are at risk of fleeing the country.

Investigators have pledged to be "honest and transparent" with victims from the start, to avoid giving them unrealistic expectations.

Mr Leary said: "Not all matters we review, even where they're reinvestigated, even where victim or survivor says 'I want that to be reinvestigated', will produce a criminal justice outcome.

"They won't for a variety of reasons.

"I think we can conduct those inquiries and those investigations in a way that is trauma informed, that's open and honest and transparent, that's realistic, where we have good communication.

"My hope is that what we do is we build confidence in the process, even though the outcome in some cases will not, of course, be that which we might wish."

Last month the Metropolitan Police announced that they are reviewing 9,000 cases of child sexual exploitation.

It is expected that some of these will be referred to Operation Beaconport, which is looking at cases involving two or more suspects, more than one victim, contact offences, where the suspects are still alive, and that has not already been independently reviewed.

Responding to the NCA update, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "This Government initiated this national policing operation to track down the evil child rapists that perpetrated these crimes, and put them behind bars where they belong.

"There will be no hiding place for those who abused the most vulnerable in our society."