'They want Labour to do something!' Charlie Peters says Oldham grooming victims are 'distressed' by Jess Phillips' 'delayed' response

Jess Phillips, the Safeguarding Minister, rejected calls for a government inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham.

In letters to the council executive, Phillips apologised for the delays in responding but maintained that local authorities should take the lead on the matter.

Peters said: "Jess Phillips took well over three months to respond. She apologised very deeply for that delay three months after this request was originally made.

"Now, back in 2022 there was a review into the abuse crisis in Oldham, it was only 2011 to 2014. Many survivors in the town felt that this was insufficient.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

• Nigel Farage 'haunts the dreams of everybody in British politics,' admits Ex-Labour adviser
• SNP spends more money on meals for Scottish prisoners than for hospital patients in NHS care
• 'Just not a good look!' Stephen Dixon fumes at clip of Keir Starmer 'queue-jumping'

"They wanted a much broader inquiry, they wanted the terms of reference to expand. And while that just three-year review found some appalling abuse, it didn't get into what many survivors felt was the true depth of the scandal and the atrocity in the town.

"So they don't want the local authority to do it, they want the government to do it. Now as part of this letter, they've also said that if the government reject this inquiry, as of course Jess Phillips has, they will launch a Telford style inquiry.

"Now in Telford, thousands of victims were identified by a barrister-led inquiry. So that will be now the approach that the council takes.

"As I understand it, officers from Oldham Council are in touch with those from the West Mercier Council in Telford, who sorted out and organised that proceeding at the time.

"I have to say from the survivors I've spoken to for many years in Oldham on this issue, they're quite distressed frankly about the decision from Jess Phillips.

It's not just the rejection of their call, which was democratically voted for, but also the time it took for her to respond.

"Well over three months of ignoring that letter from the chief executive who had to write a follow up to alert the safeguarding minister to this urgent demand being made by survivors of child abuse.

"I have to say that delay and that apology has not been received very well from the people I've been speaking to in Greater Manchester this morning."

Following the Home Office's rejection, Oldham Council has begun exploring alternative inquiry options.

GB News understands that the council has made contact with officials in Telford, where a similar investigation took place.

The controversy comes amid wider calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs across the UK.

Kemi Badenoch has demanded a full national investigation into what she termed the "rape gangs scandal."

"The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal. Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots," Badenoch posted on X.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage responded critically: "Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry. The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level."