A Conservative councillor in Oldham has strongly criticised Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s announcement on grooming gang inquiries, describing it as a “whitewash”.
Speaking on GB News, Cllr Lewis Quigg said the Home Secretary had missed a crucial opportunity to address the issue effectively.
Cooper announced government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs during a Commons statement this afternoon.
The announcement follows weeks of mounting pressure for action on child sexual exploitation.
Cllr Lewis Quigg said the Home Secretary had missed a crucial opportunity
GB News
Quigg said: “My dad’s a decorator. It does feel like the Home Secretary is getting out the emulsion and readying the whitewash.
“Because to me, if she wanted to break the logjam on this, she could have said the statutory powers will be given to these local inquiries, which compels witnesses to come forward and compels those council officials, compels those police officers, compels those charity workers who all ignored this.
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“Who allowed those girls to go through the council corridors, who allowed those girls to be picked up outside police stations, at taxi ranks in taxis.
“All these people who should be held to account, including councillors, and this is not going to happen.
“And this is why you’re probably hearing from survivors who are now digesting what’s been put out by the Home Secretary, who feel so angry about this.
“We had to try six times over six years to get a local inquiry. That’s six wasted years that the Labour Council who said it was bare faced lies, that it didn’t destroy lives. It was not good enough.
“How are victims and survivors in all these other areas going to get a local inquiry if you have councils who just basically don’t think this is a problem, or it doesn’t exist, or it’s not a problem in their area, there is no real teeth to this?”
The announcement follows weeks of mounting pressure for action on child sexual exploitation
PA
Quigg revealed multiple letters were written to the council between 2019 and 2020, arguing that Andy Burnham’s assurance review was insufficient.
He criticised local MPs Angela Rayner, Jim McMahon, and Debbie Abrahams for initially supporting the review.
“That was a complete whitewash, that review it’s been found to be now, and it’s been thrown under the bus, and we’re now back to square one in Oldham,” he stated.
Quigg emphasised the national scale of the problem, questioning locations of abuse.
Quigg revealed multiple letters were written to the council between 2019 and 2020
GB News
“Are we saying that things that happened in Rochdale stopped at the border in Oldham and didn’t go from over to West Yorkshire to Kirklees and beyond?” he asked.
He highlighted concerns about inadequate funding, noting that the £1million allocated per area falls far short of the Telford inquiry’s costs.
“The five areas that you mentioned, that’s a million pounds each. Telford, that’s nearly £10m. That doesn’t even begin to cover the costs,” he said.
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