Sadiq Khan's 'wilful blindness' to grooming gangs scandal blasted by Maggie Oliver after dodging question

"To me it is just the same wilful blindness or pretending you don't know what's going on that I've seen repeatedly, and which in large part is responsible for why we are here today," Oliver told GB News.

She praised the fact that Khan was "being called out" for his responses, adding that his attempts to "pretend we don't have this issue" would no longer be accepted by the public.

During a tense exchange at City Hall, Conservative Susan Hall repeatedly pressed the mayor on whether London has grooming gangs operating in the capital.

Khan consistently asked Hall to clarify what she meant by grooming gangs, claiming: "I'm not clear what she means."

Hall explicitly stated she was referring to "rape gangs" that prey on girls and young women for sex, mentioning cases in Rotherham and Bradford.

The mayor instead pointed to young people being groomed by County Lines drugs gangs in London.

Praising the work of GB News, Oliver stated that thanks to the light that has been shone on the issue means that the public "up and down the country" is now "fully aware" of the scale of the scandal.

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Oliver explained: "It shows full well that he is just being obstructive, that he is trying to pretend we don't have this issue and that won't wash anymore.

"Because in large part, for a lot of the good work that GB News has done, the public throughout the country now are fully aware of the situation and it needs to be addressed properly."

Speaking about the sentencing of eight men in the West Yorkshire grooming gang case, she pointed to "the inadequacy of the sentences" as a persistent issue.

"It's taken these kids 25 years to get some form of justice. And yet eight men, they've been sentenced to about seven years each, they'll be out of prison in three years," she told GB News.

She argued these sentences failed to "reflect the magnitude of the abuse".

Oliver concluded: "There is some justice there - too little - it should have been dealt with 25 years ago. But for the victims, I think they will feel some sense of satisfaction that at least their rapes have been recognised.

"But these same failures run through many of these cases and they're still, in my opinion, failing to get a proper grip of them."

GB News has approached Sadiq Khan for comment.