London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2025

Rishi Sunak criticises political correctness over grooming gangs

Rishi Sunak criticises political correctness over grooming gangs

Victims of grooming gangs have been ignored because of political correctness, Rishi Sunak said as he set out plans for a police taskforce.

Specialist officers supported by the National Crime Agency will be sent to help forces with their investigations, the government said.

And better ethnicity data will help ensure abusers do not evade justice due to "cultural sensitivities", it added.

Labour said the proposals were "far too inadequate".

Under the new plans, more data on the make-up of grooming gangs, including ethnicity, would help ensure suspects "cannot hide behind cultural sensitivities as a way to evade justice", the government said.

On a visit to Rochdale the prime minister was asked if the focus by the home secretary on British-Asian men when discussing grooming gangs in parts of northern England was appropriate.

Mr Sunak said it wasn't right that cases of victims and whistleblowers had been "often ignored" by social workers, local politicians and the police in areas such as Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford - because of "cultural sensitivity and political correctness".

Earlier Sabah Kaiser, ethnic minority ambassador to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), said it was "very, very dangerous" to turn child sexual abuse "into a matter of colour".

She told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "Child sexual abuse does not have a skin colour, it doesn't have a religion, it doesn't have a culture. Child sexual abuse does not discriminate."

Professor Alexis Jay OBE, who chairs the IICSA and investigated child abuse in Rotherham, welcomed the announcement but indicated she wanted the government to adopt the 20 recommendations she set out last year in full "to better protect children from sexual abuse in the future".

The taskforce announcement did not include any mention of new funding, or give any indication of how many officers would be involved.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told LBC political correctness should not "get in the way" of prosecuting grooming gangs but added the "vast majority of sexual abuse cases" do not involve ethnic minorities.

Last year a report by the IICSA inquiry found the police and councils still did not understand the risk of organised gangs grooming children in their areas and were not collecting data which would help identify paedophiles and their ethnic background.

It found that, in some cases, authorities might be potentially downplaying the scale of abuse, and that local authorities "don't want to be labelled another Rochdale or Rotherham" - referring to the high-profile grooming gangs cases.

Signs of abuse were found in six areas studied by the inquiry, but police forces generally could not provide evidence about the extent of the problem.

The IICSA has previously called for better data collection across the country, and the Home Office acknowledged in 2020 that a "paucity of data... limits what can be known about the characteristics of offenders, victims and offending behaviour".

Over years of hearings and research, IICSA also found child abuse existed in a wide range of contexts, ranging from religious institutions, schools, the care system, and online, which are not covered by Monday's announcement.

There is also a huge backlog in cases going through the courts, which particularly affects victims of child abuse who sometimes have to wait years, while dealing with the trauma their experience has created.

NSPCC chief executive Sir Peter Wanless said the announcement "must be backed up with funding for services to help child victims recover and support for a justice system that is struggling to cope".

He added that "predators... are from a range of cultural backgrounds" and warned it was "really important that by raising an issue such as race we don't create other blind spots".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman at the NSPCC offices in Leeds


Other plans announced on Monday include making membership of a grooming gang an aggravating factor during sentencing, Downing Street said.

The government has already said it will introduce a legal requirement for people who work with children to report abuse, or face prosecution.

Mr Sunak met with local police and victims in Leeds and Greater Manchester on Monday to launch the taskforce.

On Sunday Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the BBC there was "a wilful turning of the blind eye" among authorities, and that "cultural sensitivities" and concerns about "being called bigoted" had played a role in high-profile abuse scandals.

She said "vulnerable white girls living in troubled circumstances have been abused, drugged, raped, and exploited" by networks of gangs of rapists, which she claimed were "overwhelmingly" made up of British-Pakistani males.

An independent inquiry found at least 1,400 children had been subjected to sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, with the perpetrators predominantly men of Pakistani heritage.

The racial profile of these cases resulted in the issue becoming a cause-celebre within far-right politics.

Home Office-commissioned research in 2020 found "a number" of high-profile cases had "mainly involved men of Pakistani ethnicity", but also highlighted "significant limitations to what can be said about links between ethnicity and this form of offending".

It said there was limited research on offender identity and poor quality data, which made it difficult to draw conclusions, however "it is likely that no one community or culture is uniquely predisposed to offending".

Dr Ella Cockbain, associate professor at University College London's Department of Security and Crime Science, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the government was "disregarding and contradicting" its own research to "push discredited stereotypes".

Tracy Brabin, Labour Mayor of West Yorkshire, called Ms Braverman's comments a "dog whistle", while shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the plans were "far too inadequate for the scale of the problem".

Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesperson, said they supported steps to crack down on abusers, but said: "Unless the government tackles the backlog in our courts and restores community policing, too many criminals will continue to evade justice."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
×