𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The resignation of two survivors from the grooming gangs inquiry has “cast a real shadow” over the Government’s efforts, Robert Jenrick has said.

The shadow justice secretary told BBC Breakfast: “I’ve read the letters that they’ve written, and I thought they were very powerful indeed and cast a real shadow over the Government’s efforts to create this national grooming gang inquiry.

“Look, the Government didn’t want to have this inquiry in the first place, and they’ve been dragged to the point of starting one.

“And now to have survivors’ very, very powerful testimonies, people who should have been at the heart of this inquiry, feeling that they’re being excluded, that they can’t even ask questions in meetings, that they’re being shut down, that the scope of the inquiry is being changed so that it doesn’t really focus on the heart of the matter, which is grooming gangs, rape gangs, group-based activity, is a real, real disappointment from the Government. They’ve got to take action now and grip this.”