Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has issued an ultimatum to Labour, threatening to launch his own inquiry into grooming gangs if Sir Keir Starmer fails to act by the end of January.
Speaking at his party’s south east conference in Esher, Nigel vowed to personally raise funds for an independent investigation if the government continues to resist mounting pressure for a national inquiry.
The announcement comes amid intensifying calls for a comprehensive probe into Britain’s grooming gang scandal.
“We used to call them grooming gangs – but that term is too mild. These are mass rape gangs. What has happened and the scale on which is has happened seems to be almost incalculable,” he told Reform members.
Keir Starmer has until the end of January to launch a grooming gangs inquiry or Reform UK will take action, says Nigel Farage
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He cited GB News investigative reporter Charlie Peters’ documentation of mass rape cases in at least 50 towns spanning decades.
Nigel claimed a “two-tier” approach to policing and justice had led to different treatment of communities, suggesting “poor, young white girls” had suffered to avoid offending “a small percentage” of Pakistani males.
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Charlie Peters speaks to a victim of Britain’s Pakistani grooming gangsGB NewsNew police data has revealed grooming gangs commit sexual offences against two children every day in the UK.
The Hydrant Programme, analysing records from all 43 police forces across England and Wales, documented 717 child exploitation grooming crimes in 2023 and 572 in the first nine months of 2024.
The landmark study found group-based offending accounted for 3.7 per cent of all child sexual abuse crimes in 2023, with 4,228 group-based offences recorded that year.
Labour’s Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones has defended the government’s position, stating they won’t support another probe.
Nigel Farage spoke to the Reform south east conference
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“We’ve already had a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation and abuse. The Professor Alexis Jay inquiry conducted extensive investigation, over 7,000 brave victims and survivors gave their testimony,” Davies-Jones said.
Farage dismissed this response, calling the Jay Inquiry “a whitewash” that “barely mentions grooming gangs.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has broken ranks with Labour, backing calls for “a limited national inquiry.”
“If Starmer won’t do it, and I will give him to the end of the month, I will raise the money and we will hold the public inquiry. The people deserve to know the truth,” Nigel declared.
His ultimatum follows the release of the Hydrant Programme findings, which revealed that ethnicity data is only recorded for 34 per cent of suspects, as it requires police interviews to be conducted first.
The debate intensifies as victims continue to press for action, with a survivor recently urging the government to launch a national inquiry in an interview with The Telegraph.
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