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Sir Keir Starmer faced questions about attacks on his Government over past grooming gang cases.
The criticised the by saying he had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice as director of public prosecutions (DPP) from 2008 to 2013 and calling him “complicit in the rape of Britain”.
Children were raped and abused by gangs of men while the authorities failed to them.
A review of the abuse in was released in 2022 but its terms of reference only stretched from 2011-2014.
Details have emerged about abuse in Rotherham, in Telford, in Rochdale and in dozens of other places.
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What did Sir Keir Starmer do to tackle the issue as director of public prosecutions?
While DPP, Sir Keir introduced a special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation to oversee convictions against grooming gangs.
He also changed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance to encourage police to investigate suspects in complex sexual abuse cases and court reforms aimed at making the process less traumatic for victims.
Sir Keir defended his record on tackling grooming gangs, saying he had dealt with the problem “head-on” as DPP.
Speaking today at Epsom Hospital in Surrey, he said: “I reopened cases that had been closed and supposedly finished, I brought the first major prosecution of an Asian grooming gang – in the particular case it was in Rochdale, but it was the first of its kind, there were many that then followed that format.
“We changed, or I changed, the whole prosecution approach, because I wanted to challenge and did challenge the myths and stereotypes that were stopping those victims being heard.”
He added: “When I left office, we had the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record.”
What do people want to see happen next?
Now there have been demands for the Prime Minister to launch a new inquiry into child sexual exploitation.
The chairwoman of a previous inquiry that uncovered wide-ranging failings in how institutions protected children said she was not seeking a new probe, but for the Government to take the steps recommended in her final report more than two years ago.
The Government has said it is working “at pace” to implement the recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
Why has the debate about grooming gangs re-ignited?
Debate around grooming gangs was reignited when it was reported that Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation in the town, in favour of a locally-led investigation. The decision was taken in October.
Ms Phillips said she recognised the “strength of feeling” for a Home Office-led inquiry, but she told the local council the Government will not “intervene”.
“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,” she said.