Health Secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed that the government would support a locally-led inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, as tensions among MPs on the issue continue to grow.
“That is why I believe it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene,” Phillips said.
Streeting confirmed the government’s backing of an inquiry into the Oldham scandal, involving child sexual exploitation that occurred between 2011 and 2014.
“There may well be, and we think there is a good case for further inquiries into specific places, Oldham being a good and latest example. We would absolutely encourage and work with Oldham in establishing their own inquiries,” he said.
It investigated the extent to which institutions failed to protect children from sexual abuse in Rochdale, Rotherham, and other areas.
The report, published under the Conservative government in October 2022, made 107 recommendations, including mandatory reporting of abuse and a national redress scheme for survivors.
National Inquiry Calls
In response to the government’s call for a local inquiry in Oldham, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for a “full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal.”Writing on social media platform X on Thursday, she said: “Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp echoed Badenoch’s remarks and said that “anyone responsible for not following it up is held to account.”
“The issues don’t just apply in Oldham, they apply, I’m afraid, in many other towns and cities as well, and it’s I think right, now, that we look at that. I’m very disappointed the Labour government have been so silent on this topic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s “World at One.”
A Labour spokesperson said the government is working urgently to “strengthen the law” to ensure child sexual exploitation crimes “are properly reported and investigated.”
‘Misinformed’
The official statements on the Oldham Council inquiry request come amid remarks by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has claimed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.He also suggested that Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after she denied requests for a public inquiry in Oldham.
Streeting said that some of Musk’s criticisms are “misjudged and certainly misinformed.” He urged the X owner, who “has got a big role to play with his social media platform” to help the UK and other countries to tackle child sexual exploitation.
“So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that,” Streeting added.
Health minister Andrew Gwynne had earlier said that Musk, who is set to act as an unelected adviser to the Trump presidency on cutting federal spending, should “focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic.”
He highlighted the investigations which had already taken place into sexual abuse scandals and suggested that Musk hasn’t “really paid attention” to the developments in the UK.
