Victory for GB News campaign as PM announces plans to clamp down on grooming gangs

The new force will be led by the police and supported by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA has seen significant success in dealing with historic group-based child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, where it was brought in to deal with the town’s scandal after local police and council failures were exposed in a series of government reports.

GB News understands that the NCA will act as oversight for local police forces, with specialist officers being sent into specific areas if issues are raised about a hesitancy to tackle grooming gangs.

The 2014 Jay report found that some 1,400 girls had been groomed, abused, raped and tortured in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 with the police and council failing to act due to fears that tackling the problem would look racist. Since launching its own investigation in the town in 2014, the NCA has revised the number of victims to 1,510, identified hundreds of suspects and secured several high-profile prosecutions and convictions.

The government’s announcement comes less than two months after GB News broadcast “Grooming Gangs: Britain’s Shame,” the channel’s first documentary under the GB News Investigates brand.

The documentary called for a new NCA taskforce to assist local police investigations into group-localised child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The documentary called for the taskforce to “hold the police to account” after decades of scandals, “whether it’s for failing to collect data on ethnicity, or for not prosecuting criminals.”

Downing Street said that the NCA-supported taskforce will include data analysts to “identify the types of criminals who carry out these offences, helping police forces across the country catch offenders who might otherwise be missed.”

In a statement, the government added that the taskforce “will also include police recorded ethnicity data to make sure suspects cannot evade justice because of cultural sensitivities,” another demand made in the GB News Investigates documentary.

It added: “This will include better data on the make-up of grooming gangs, including ethnicity, to make sure suspects cannot hide behind cultural sensitivities as a way to evade justice.”

Elizabeth, a survivor of child sexual exploitation from Rotherham, told GB News: “I truly hope this is the moment we have all been waiting for as survivors and campaigners. The national grooming gangs scandal has dragged on for decades without major action, but these plans show huge potential. The NCA secured the conviction of my abuser in 2018 and I hope the government's new taskforce will help secure justice for other victims across the country, not just in Rotherham.”

Elizabeth, not her real name, added: “The Home Secretary is right to speak frankly about the background of the perpetrators. Political correctness and fears of being called racist silenced so many people and prevented investigations when myself and thousands of other survivors needed it.

“I was sickened to see people calling the home secretary racist on Twitter after she correctly outlined the issue. Will these people never learn? Are our stories and all the data not enough?”

Maggie Oliver, the Greater Manchester Police whistle blower who exposed a rape-gangs scandal in Rochdale, told GB News: “I welcome the attention being focused today on this national shame and I am cautiously optimistic about these plans, but my fear is this is more rhetoric which I’ve heard many times over the past 10 years.”

She added: “I heard similar promises made by former Home Secretaries Priti Patel and Sajid Javid, but sadly action never followed the words. I hope this time it’s different, but only time will tell, and until the monumental changes needed are actually put in place, victims of these horrific crimes will continue to have their lives destroyed.”

The Maggie Oliver Foundation exclusively shared details of its annual report with GB News in February as part of this broadcaster’s year-long investigation into the grooming gangs scandal. The charity said that it was currently working on over 50 live group-localised child sexual exploitation cases.

The charity also confirmed that it had supported more than 1,000 survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation through its legal advocacy and emotional support services since 2020.

Last year alone, some 400 survivors contacted the foundation having been failed by the police in some way.

Ahead of the launch of the new taskforce, the prime minister said: “The safety of women and girls is paramount. For too long, political correctness has stopped us from weeding out vile criminals who prey on children and young women. We will stop at nothing to stamp out these dangerous gangs.”

The government is also expected to introduce new legislation that will make being the leader of or involved in a grooming gang a statutory aggravating factor during sentencing, which will secure longer prison sentences for perpetrators convicted of these offences.

When Elizabeth’s abuser was convicted of two rapes in 2018, he was sentenced to just 9 years, being released after four-and-a-half years, including two years spent in the comfort of an open prison.

Elizabeth told this broadcaster: “Longer prison sentences are vital for us survivors. All too often, the rapists are back in their communities in no time. We see them in the street, we see them in the supermarket. It’s got to stop.”

This new legislation is another campaigning victory for GB News Investigates. In “Grooming Gangs: Britain’s Shame”, this broadcaster urged the government to act: “We need stronger prison sentences for the rapists. No victim should see their abuser walk out of prison after only a few years.”

The new developments come after Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced that the government would introduce Mandatory Reporting for adults working with children if they suspect or identify that child is being abused, which was a major recommendation from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Braverman said: “The inquiry found repeated individual and institutional failures to report child sexual abuse. It recommended that the Government should introduce a mandatory duty for professionals with safeguarding responsibilities to report any signs or suspicions of such abuse.

“Had this duty been in place already, countless children would have been better protected against grooming gangs and against sexual abusers more widely.”

​The home secretary has also announced that the government will provide £600,000 in funding to the NSPCC whistle blowing helpline.

If a professional has concerns that their organisation isn’t reporting or handling child abuse cases appropriately, they can contact the NSPCC whistle blowing helpline for support.

The helpline was launched in 2016 following Prof. Alexis Jay’s report into the Rotherham catastrophe. It has led to over 300 referrals to the police since then.

Commenting on the latest wave of legislation planned for tackling child abuse in general and grooming gangs in particular, the home secretary said: “Child sexual abuse is one of the most horrific crimes facing our society, it devastates victims, families and whole communities.

“The protection of children is a collective effort. Every adult must be supported to call out child sexual abuse without fear.

“And the despicable abusers must be brought to justice. They should not be able to hide. And they must face the full force of the law for their crimes.

“That’s why I’m introducing a mandatory reporting duty and launching a call for evidence. We must address the failures identified by the Inquiry and take on board the views of the thousands of victims and survivors who contributed to its findings.

“I would encourage everyone to engage with the process once it starts – it is important to have a national conversation about this to shine a light on this terrible – but too often hidden – crime.”