Mr Musk, a key ally of US President Donald Trump, additionally stated safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in jail” after she denied requests for the Dwelling Workplace to guide a public inquiry into youngster sexual exploitation in Oldham.
Right here is all of the background to the inquiries which were finished and why the Dwelling Workplace Minister has refused requires a contemporary investigation in Oldham.
Why is Sir Keir Starmer being criticised by Elon Musk?
Mr Musk instructed the latest determination by Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips to reject requires a Authorities inquiry into alleged grooming gangs in Oldham was a part of a canopy as much as shield Sir Keir.
As a substitute of the Authorities main a probe, Oldham should comply with within the footsteps of different cities like Rotherham and Telford and fee its personal inquiry into historic abuse of kids, Ms Phillips stated in a letter to the native council.
The tycoon tweeted: “Within the UK, severe crimes akin to rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to cost suspects. Who was the top of the CPS when rape gangs had been allowed to use younger ladies with out dealing with justice? Keir Starmer, 2008 -2013.
“Who’s the boss of Jess Phillips proper now? Keir Starmer. The true purpose she’s refusing to analyze the rape gangs is that it might clearly result in the blaming of Keir Stamer (head of the CPS on the time).”
A 2022 report discovered youngsters within the Manchester suburb had been failed by care businesses amid allegations of alleged grooming by “predominantly Pakistani offenders” in council properties and shisha bars, and by taxi drivers.
In 2012, when he was main the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Sir Keir admitted that the CPS had let weak ladies down underneath after a case was dropped towards a rape suspect in 2009 regardless of proof pointing to their guilt.
He stated on the time: “In a lot of instances introduced to us, notably in instances involving teams, there’s clearly a problem of ethnicity that needs to be understood and addressed.
“As prosecutors we shouldn’t draw back from that. But when we’re trustworthy, it’s the strategy to the victims, the credibility subject, that brought on these instances to not be prosecuted previously. There was a lack of expertise.”
As Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir gave the inexperienced mild to cost members of the Rochdale grooming gang in 2013 and in addition launched reforms that modified the way in which the CPS handles youngster intercourse abuse instances.
A leaked letter exhibits that in September 2022, the then Conservative minister for safeguarding, Amanda Solloway, wrote to an Oldham councillor additionally dismissing a request for a public inquiry.
“It’s for the native authorities in particular person cities and cities that are liable for delivering native companies, to fee native inquiries,” she stated.
What inquiries have already been finished into the kid sexual exploitation grooming scandal?
There have been quite a few native investigations into the systematic rape and sexual assault of women and younger ladies by organised grooming gangs in areas throughout the UK. They embody in Rotherham, Telford, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Oldham, Rochdale and Bristol.
An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham discovered that 1,400 youngsters had been abused over a 16-year interval, predominantly by British Pakistani males.
A damning report launched final 12 months discovered severe failings in efforts to guard youngsters from sexual abuse by grooming gangs in Rochdale. The report’s writer Malcolm Newsam stated many abusers had been left unpunished because of police and council failings.
He discovered investigations weren’t effectively sufficient resourced to match the “scale of the widespread organised exploitation” carried about by a lot of predominantly Asian males in Rochdale.
In Telford as much as 1,000 ladies had been abused over 4 a long time and investigators discovered that some allegations had not been investigated due to “nervousness about race”.
An inquiry was arrange in Oldham after rumours that youngsters had been being groomed in council-run properties, shisha bars, and by taxi drivers.
Whereas it didn’t discover proof of widespread sexual exploitation in these settings, it identified severe failings amongst safeguarding companies within the space.
The Unbiased Inquiry into Youngster Intercourse Abuse (IICSA) which revealed its last report in 2022, introduced collectively a number of of those inquiries collectively alongside its personal investigations.
What has been the results of the stories and inquiries?
Professor Alexis Jay, who led the IICSA, has stated she felt “annoyed” that none of its 20 suggestions to sort out abuse had been applied greater than two years after her report was revealed.
She stated: “It is a troublesome subject material, however it’s important that there is some public understanding of it.
“However we will solely do what we will to press the federal government to have a look at the supply of all of this.
“It does not want extra session, it doesn’t want extra analysis or dialogue, it simply must be finished.”
In April 2023, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrange the Grooming Gangs Taskforce. It includes of specialist officers who work with all 43 police forces in England and Wales to help youngster sexual exploitation and grooming investigations.
In Might, the federal government stated the taskforce had helped police arrest over 550 suspects, establish and shield over 4,000 victims, and “construct up strong instances to get justice for these appalling crimes”.
The scandals have fuelled far-right campaigns which have centered on instances of large-scale abuse carried out primarily by males of Pakistani descent, and investigation which instructed “nervousness about race” had prevented victims being helped.
In April 2023, the federal government pledged extra knowledge on the make-up of grooming gangs, together with ethnicity, to assist guarantee suspects “can not cover behind cultural sensitivities as a technique to evade justice”.
The three most infamous youngster intercourse gang instances – Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford – all had preparators predominantly of Pakistani and South Asian first rate.
Nonetheless, a Dwelling Workplace examine in 2020 discovered group-based youngster sexual exploitation offenders “are mostly white”. Some instances, such because the 2010 convictions of a gaggle of white males, and a lady, for abusing 30 youngsters within the Camborne space of Cornwall, acquired much less consideration than the convictions within the North West.
Why have there been calls for one more inquiry?
Tory chief Kemi Badenoch has argued a nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs is “lengthy overdue”.
She stated 2025 “have to be the 12 months that victims get justice”.
“The time is lengthy overdue for a full nationwide inquiry into the rape gangs scandal,” she stated.
“Trials have taken place all around the nation in recent times however nobody in authority has joined the dots. 2025 have to be the 12 months that the victims begin to get justice.”
Shadow dwelling secretary Chris Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns pressed for a statutory inquiry in Oldham, regardless of the Tory authorities turning down the thought in 2022.
They stated that solely a public inquiry “can adequately embody the nationwide nature of those crimes and points” and think about whether or not stories had been ignored by the police, CPS and native council “and even lined up”..
An Oldham Council spokesman stated: “Survivors sit on the coronary heart of our work to finish youngster sexual exploitation.
“No matter occurs by way of future inquiries, we now have promised them that their needs will probably be paramount, and we won’t renege on that pledge.”
What does the Labour authorities say?
Well being Secretary Wes Streeting stated: “A number of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I believe are misjudged and definitely misinformed, however we’re prepared to work with Elon Musk, who I believe has bought a giant position to play along with his social media platform to assist us and different nations to sort out this severe subject.
He added that ministers had been supportive of an inquiry into the Oldham scandal, however signalled it needed to be led domestically.
“There could be, and we predict there’s a good case for additional inquiries into particular locations, Oldham being a very good and newest instance. “We might completely encourage and work with Oldham in establishing their very own inquiries,” he stated.
A Labour spokesperson stated the federal government is “working at tempo to implement the suggestions” in Professor Alexis Jay’s IICSA report.
They added: “We’ve supported each the nationwide overarching inquiry into youngster abuse, which reported in 2022, and native impartial inquiries and critiques together with in Telford, Rotherham and Better Manchester.
“This authorities is working urgently to strengthen the legislation in order that these crimes are correctly reported and investigated.”
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