There will be a national enquiry into the grooming gangs

You've worded your points really well and succinctly. I agree wholeheartedly with all of it. I hope people start listening to rational voices like yours.

The difference @saraclara is that these vile creatures were prosecuted. The victims were believed. The communities weren’t shielding the perpetrators. The police weren’t afraid to prosecute them to the full extent of the law. The victims weren’t selected for their race. And nobody was dissuaded from talking about it for the sake of community cohesion.

The fact that there are white grooming gangs does not take away the seriousness of the cover ups and failure to tackle Pakistani rape gangs. Pretending that concerns and calls for further enquiries are based on racism just doesn’t cut it anymore. We know too much now.

Do you study research or statistics at all? You do realise patterns can emerge and links made and it doesn't automatically mean every single person will fit the characteristic don't you ? It doesn't cancel out the link made though does it ? They call that "whatabouttery" I believe....

No of course it's not. People like this poster are part of the problem. It has become a very nice weapon to brandish to shut white people up. There's many nowadays "white privilege" "white people can't experience racism" treating critical race theory as fact. And people are buying it. People are to scared to speak because of the instant conversation stoppers. That's where we need balance back. To have conversations without throwing childish victim statements out.

I work with a lot of black and ethnic minority individuals, some of which are actually my friends outside of work and truthfully the loud voices using these threats from their minority group have caused nothing but trouble for them. One woman (black ) said she now fears everyone assumes she has those opinions and the liberal left now treat black people as one big monolith and the loud voices are being taken notice of by the liberals and in the meantime black and minority people that don't actually hold those thoughts are punished by proxy. So once again, going backwards aren't we...

How many of you heard as much about this gang as you have about the latest Pakistani one?

https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/april/victim-of-blackrod-grooming-gang-shares-devastating-impact-on-her-life-as-final-men-sentenced/

The remaining six members of a group of 10 men who groomed, raped and sexually abused underage girls in Blackrod, Bolton, between 2016 and 2018 have been sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today, Tuesday 29 April 2025.
Daniel Flatters, Jack Poulson, Cory Barrett, James Fitzgerald, Richard Haslam, and Elliott Turner are the final six men that have been handed substantial sentences for a range of sexual offences.
They have each been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

A grooming gang of white British sexual abusers. One of the majority of grooming gangs that are white, but who we don't hear about. I can't imagine why.

Kemi Badenoch has an absolute cheek with her comment about the response being needed now and not in 10 years time given her government implemented precisely none of the 20 recommendations in the previous inquiry.

Really ? That's your 10pence worth is it ? For the love of god, can we STOP flinging the word RACIST about as a weapon to silence !!!!!!!

The only people targeted because of their race (and class) was those vulnerable young girls. "Easy" "white girls" who probably hadn't got terribly stable home lives. THAT is the racist part.

You do realise you're feeding the problem. Some of those men were absolutely banking on the fact people like you exist to hide behind the 'racist' accusations, that are now used as verbal terrorism to shut up white folks.its why links weren't made early, nobody dared voice that link. It's utterly ridiculous.

@cumbriaisbest

We did have an inquiry into this, under the Tories, and they put exactly none of the suggestions into place while they were in power: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmhaff/68/68i.pdf

Maybe this second enquiry will encourage the current government to make changes. However, it feels like people are using this as a political stick to beat Keir Starmer, rather than truly caring about the victims and how to prevent this kind of horrific abuse in future.

They're not

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/elon-musk-npcc-keir-starmer-nigel-farage-pakistani-b2677586.html

The vast majority of grooming gang offences are carried out by white men, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has said.
New figures from the police database show that, where ethnicity data was available, 85% of “group-based” child abusers were white in the first three quarters of 2024.

But if course the media tends to focus on the Pakistani gangs, because divisive news reporting gets more readers.

It would be preferable to have a government in power who didn’t need to change their minds quite so often.

Why not?

I’m 37 and we’ve been talking about this since we were 13.

You don't need to post in AIBU for traffic.

I agree. I am glad Labour are capable of changing their minds rather than sticking to one course of action dogmatically.

Maybe the female victims of the child rapists and sexual abusers can decide if they think an inquiry is warranted? How can it be pandering to racists to seek justice for children who were multiply raped and abused? Jeez, where is your humanity? Is it like, if your ethnicity or your skin colour is a certain shade, you can be excused answering for your sexual crimes against girls and women? How does Nazir Afsal know if it will retraumatise survivors? Has every single survivor been spoken to ascertain their views? Why not let the girls and women decide?

Totally pointless. It will be a cover up.

@cumbriaisbest

I can imagine it will be hard for some victims

Cumbria there are literally thousands though so I don't understand how one person can begin to think he can possibly speak for all these victim's.

Others have been calling for an enquiry and many victims have their persecutors wandering free around their towns still which is apparently deeply upsetting to some of them

Is it racist when men coming from countries/backgrounds that treat women as second class citizens are the main perps?

Tell that to the victims 🤦🏻‍♀️

I wonder if Rupert Lowe might be the next PM and Conservative leader....

Yes. The benefit of the enquiry will depend on who does it, and its remit.

It's necessary.

Are we having two now? One by the govt and one by Rupert Lowe et al?

Did Baroness Casey actually say one wasn’t needed?

Waste of time and money.
Grenfell
Hillsborough
Blood scandal
Post office scandal

every single enquiry is pointless- no one is every held to account, they cost millions. We all know how grooming gangs came about, we all know the cultural coverup and motivations that allowed it to happen.

Pointless. Pandering to the racists.

Nazir Afsal said it will retraumatise survivors.