Labour has dropped its commitment for five grooming gang inquiries, making the announcement on the final day before Parliament breaks up for Easter recess.
In January, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledged £5 million to support five local investigations into grooming gangs. However, this has now been reallocated into a "flexible" £5 million fund.
The government said it would still support inquiries if requested by local authorities but it no longer committed to five.
Tory MP Robbie Moore said that the five local inquiries had “been kicked into the long grass.”
He added: “That is a complete and utter disgrace.”
GB News understands Parliament was given just 45 minutes’ notice before the Government made the update
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Opposition sources told GB News they received 45 minutes’ notice of the contents of the update.
It comes after the government announced plans to establish a new Child Protection Authority aimed at improving national oversight and consistency in child protection practices across the country.
The new body will prioritise the protection of children as part of a comprehensive approach to strengthen safeguarding measures nationwide.
Work is already underway to create the Authority, which represents a significant development in how child protection is managed at a national level.
The initiative comes as part of broader reforms to enhance child safeguarding systems and ensure more consistent practices throughout the UK.
Katie Lam MP, who responded to the statement, told GB News: “Children across Britain have been sexually tortured by gangs of men.
"We must confront the reality of these crimes and how so many people in positions of power let them go on so long.
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“Local inquiries are not good enough — they can’t compel witnesses, they can’t look at themes across the country, and they can’t address national issues like deportation.
“Now the Government is watering them down even further. We won’t let them get away with it.”
Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said: “It is paramount we do more to protect vulnerable children from the horrors of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
“Today, we have set out the next steps in our work to address the issues raised in Alexis Jay’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
“This will put victims at the heart of the government’s work to combat child sexual abuse by creating a Child Protection Authority, providing national leadership and learning on child protection and safeguarding.
Instead of funding five locally-led inquiries, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said they would back 'locally-led work on grooming gangs'
GB News“And we must address the harsh reality that the majority of child sexual abuse continues to be perpetrated within families. That is why we are making sure the next Joint Targeted Area Inspection is on child sexual abuse in the family environment.
“We will also expand therapeutic support for victims and survivors, doubling Home Office funding for support services for adults who were subjected to this form of vile abuse as children. This will provide access to the help they need to recover and rebuild their lives.
“With today’s updates, and the measures and funding we have already announced, we will protect more children, find more criminals, and deliver support and justice for more victims and survivors. We are adopting a whole of government approach, built on consultation with victims and survivors, experts, local authorities, police, and other stakeholders.
“But this is not the end point; it is just the beginning. We will continue to drive forward reforms to protect more children from abhorrent abuse and support more adult survivors of these traumatic crimes.”
A HomeOffice spokesperson said: "That is patently false. The £5m funding announced in January is being made available to local authorities to help strengthen local responses to child sexual exploitation, and all local authorities will be able to apply for funding for local inquiries or other work in this area.
"The Home Secretary has written to every local authority on our plans to support local inquiries, and after listening to local authorities about what they need, we made the decision to implement the fund in a flexible way."
