Home secretary insists five local grooming gang inquiries will go ahead - and more could follow

The confusion over whether the inquiries were still going ahead began after Home Office minister Jess Phillips failed to provide an update on the reviews in a statement to parliament, and instead said local authorities would be allowed to choose how to spend the £5m in funding they had been given to tackle grooming gangs.

Her statement - made an hour before parliament rose for Easter recess - led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils choice over how to use the funds.

Sky News understands Ms Phillips will now host a briefing with MPs this afternoon at 5pm - the second she had held in 24 hours - in an attempt to calm concern amongst her colleagues.

This morning Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, denied suggestions that the "victim-centred, locally-led inquiries" she announced in January were not going ahead.

Asked by Anna Jones on Sky News whether the government was "watering down" its response, Ms Cooper said: "No, completely the opposite.

"What we're doing is increasing the action we're taking on this vile crime."

The home secretary pointed to the rapid audit that is being carried out by Baroness Louise Casey, which will bring together the data gathered so far on grooming gangs and consider the lessons that should be learned at a national level.

'Fuelling confusion'

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the statement made by Ms Phillips "was one of the most cowardly things I have ever seen" as he repeated calls for a full statutory inquiry into the scandal.

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, also told Sky News that ministers were "fuelling confusion" and that the "mess.. could have been avoided if the government backed a full national inquiry - not this piecemeal alternative".

Demands for a national inquiry into the scandal - in which girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago - grew louder this year after tech billionaire Elon Musk accused Labour of failing to act on the issue on his social media platform X.

The government refused to hold a national inquiry, citing the work carried out by Professor Alexis Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse that looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014.

However, it did commit to holding local inquiries in five areas backed by £5m in funding and advised by Tom Crowther KC.

'Political mess'

As well as facing criticism from the Opposition, there are signs of a backlash within Labour over the way the issue has been handled.

With about an hour until the House of Commons rose for Easter recess, the government announced it was taking a more "flexible" approach to the local grooming gang inquiries.

Safeguarding minister Jess Philips argued this was based on experience from certain affected areas, and that the government is funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases.

Sky News presenter and former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Philips called the move "utterly shameful" and claimed it was a political decision.

One Labour MP told Sky News: "Some people are very angry. I despair. I don’t disagree with many of our decisions but we just play to Reform – someone somewhere needs sacking."

The government insists party political misinformation is fanning the flames of frustration in Labour.

It said they not watering down the inquiries – on the contrary, they say are increasing the action being taken - but while many Labour MPs have one eye on Reform in the rearview mirror, any accusations of being soft on grooming gangs only provides political ammunition to their adversaries.

One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a "political mess" and that they were being called "grooming sympathisers".

On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the "right thing to do" but that it was "horrible politically".

"We are all getting so much abuse. It's just political naivety in the extreme."

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch repeated her calls for a full national inquiry on Thursday, and that the government needed to look at "state failings".

She also said she would try and force another vote on holding another national inquiry, which MPs voted down in January.

'We will leave no stone unturned'

Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was "far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors".

"We are funding new police investigations to re-open historical cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey... is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country," she said.

"We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven-year national inquiry when they had the chance.

"We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children."

-SKY NEWS