Reform UK chair promises ‘private inquiry’ into grooming gangs in stark warning to Labour: ‘If you won’t do it, we will’

“What people really despise is not just the horrific crimes, but the way in which they have been covered up and the way people have been admonished and insulted just for talking about it”, he said on GB News.

“The Labour Party refuse to commit to a full, independent, national inquiry. The Tories had 14 years and now they want a vote on it.

“They had 14 years in government and never did it. We are not only going to do it and make sure it’s done properly, if Labour won’t commit to it, we will launch our own private inquiry.

“We will ask senior judges to run that for us and we have many people lining up to fund that.”

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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has defended the government's decision not to launch a national inquiry into child sexual abuse, whilst announcing new mandatory reporting requirements.

Speaking in the Commons, Cooper said: "These crimes have not been taken seriously for too long and far too many children have been failed."

The government will establish a victims and survivors panel to advise on child sexual exploitation and abuse work.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for a national inquiry amid shouts of "shame" from Labour MPs, declaring: "It is not far-right to stand up for victims of mass rape."

Cooper responded that there "hasn't been enough change to policies" and criticised the previous decade's lack of mandatory reporting measures.

A grooming gangs victim has revealed she was "laughed at" and "mocked" by police officers when trying to report abuse she endured.

Kelly Lees told GB News she suffered abuse for years while under a care order.

"I was ignored and mocked," she said. "I was laughed at by certain police officers when I reported abuse."

Lees expressed fury at Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips's rejection of calls for a Home Office-led public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

"They are scared of the truth coming out when everyone is entitled to know the truth," she said.

Authorities only took her statements two years after initial reports, with Lees noting "we're still waiting today."

The row has escalated into a public dispute between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and billionaire Elon Musk.

Starmer accused Musk of "spreading lies and misinformation", saying critics were "not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves."

Musk described Starmer as "utterly despicable" and accused him of refusing a national inquiry to conceal being "deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes."