Gov refuses home office investigation into historic child sex abuse in Oldham

[Perzival]

I've just read on x that Jess Phillips has formally declined Oldham council's request for the HO to investigate the grooming gangs in Oldham. Why on Earth would they do this? Apparently JP says it should be a local investigation? Clearly that is a conflict of interests and if the council are asking for help they should?

The only link I can find other than x is GB news (apologies).

https://www.gbnews.com/news/oldham-grooming-gangs-labour-government-inquiry-abuse-scandal

Which is wrong. It's happened/happening in so many parts of the UK including my home town - there needs to be a nation-wide inquiry which looks at the similarities seen in different towns (there are many) and draw conclusions at a nation-wide level.

Also, there needs to be root and branch reform of those agencies where girls were ignored and gaslit. If any of those people are still in jobs, they need out, pronto.

It's NOT something that can just be dealt with on a local level.

But I thought the request that Jess Phillips rejected was for the government to conduct an investigation specifically local to Oldham?

It is.

This is of course a distressing event for the girls involved, but the the government have to look at wider considerations.

@TreeSquirrel are you going to answer my question as to what are ‘wider considerations’?

There HAS been a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation! It reported in 2022. www.iicsa.org.uk/investigations-research/investigations/child-sexual-exploitation-by-groups-and-gangs.html. Oldham council was asking Phillips to set up and fund a second LOCAL inquiry. She has told them to set up an independent review themselves. We now need to ACT on the findings of multiple inquiries. For example, this a Home Office funded national police task force very actively prosecuting grooming gangs https://www.gov.uk/government/news/grooming-gangs-taskforce-arrests-hundreds-in-first-year

In a different world, where Jess Phillips decided to order an inquiry, I can easily imagine the same people who are criticising her now would be angrily arguing that we've had X number of inquiries already, we don't need another one, we need action- why won't Jess Phillips actuallt do something, etc.

Ummm who has been in power whilst the likes of Reform and before them, Ukip gained prominence?

The Tory party over the last few years, has been the most right wing version of it ever, yet the further the Tories went to the right, the more popular Reform became.

Its lazy to blame the party that has been in opposition for the rise of the far right, who quite frankly, don't have any solutions either.

If its about trails, justice, prevention etc etc, i would suggest that cuts to court services and police numbers by, Governments over many years, has had the greatest impact on peoples attitudes.

It should also be remembered that Reform have just 5 MPs and are on 20% in the polls.

Which same people? Farage and Elon ...yes, maybe. But if you are accusing women on this thread of duplicity then that's grossly unfair.

Well, it starts with Farage and Elon then it filters down, surely?

These are local issues, local childrens homes, local social services, councils and Police forces.

All have suffered drastic budget cuts over the decades.

Coupled with a justice system, nationally, that has been starved of funds, to such an extent, that it no longer works for any sex related crime.

Filters down @OneLemonDog ?

You know, you may have lived your life in the kind of blissful ignorance that lets you speak with such a detached disregard but many of us who grew up and continue to live in proximity to this horror show, and I suppose given the scale of this criminality may be victims themselves, aren't the receptacle of filtered down sentiments.

Honestly, I despair of some poster.

They weren't so badly starved of funds that they had no time to gaslight the victims and suggest that "the decisions you made in life are why this has happened to you", were they.

If budget is an issue then why is this current Govt setting up roughly one new quango per week, and has ordered dozens of inquiries since it came to power. Budget didn't seem to bother them there does it

The government has got to take into account a number of things:

1. Community relations in the area concerned
2. The potential for enflamed tensions at national level fuelled by far-right agitators. We don’t want a repeat of the thuggery witnessed last summer.
3. A potential increase in racism and xenophobia by the far-right
4. The fact that these offences have already been investigated by the police and also by the 2022 Jay report
5. The length of time which has elapsed since the offences, which has to be weighed against the benefits of re-opening such a sensitive issue.

Also, double post but do budget cuts really mean that we should throw our hands up and go, welp, children have been raped for 40 years, but hey let's not talk about it because it's a right wing talking point and also, BUDGET CUTS?

Are saying people on this thread are just being influenced by Farage and Musk, and wouldn't otherwise care?

Bloody hell. Try reading some of the court documents, and then come back and see if you would still accuse us of only being bothered because our overlords have instructed us to be.

Talk about misogyny, women have to be told by horrible, right wing men to be upset about young girls being raped.....

This. A million times over. I could be you - i lived and breathed the Labour party, crying tears of joy and elation at their historic 1997 victory; believing this is it, this is when the playing field gets levelled, equality for all yada yada. What a crock of shit the party's turned into. They lost touch with their working class supporters years ago and will lose more to reform come the next g.e. What a disgrace they've become. Dropping the wfa for pensioners was the final straw for me - how bloody dare they. Now this .... Not surprised anymore. But, yep I'm officially politically homeless, there is no one I can vote for with good conscience.

You write something like this and people wonder why Reform will win in Wales in 2026 and probably win the next General Election.

Since when do "community relations" take precedence over the industrial scale rape and abuse of young girls.

In what world are the tories of the past 14 years the "most right wing ever?" They presided over record public spending (albeit the worst public services I can remember) and debt (nearly 2 trillion now), record immigration (which is partly to blame for the bad public services as there are just too many people for the infrastructure) and a situation where crime (including vawg) isn't punished. Not a right wing I recognise. And I would be labelled as right wing (although these labels are now meaningless) but would never vote for them and there are millions of others like me. Also hate to tell you that Reform are a newish party and have already overtaken the tories in membership so are nowhere near their peak popularity.

Make it a left wing taking point, if you are worried about its traction as a right wing talking point. Hell, I'd go back to reading the Guardian if it picked up the mantle of giving a damn about working class girls who were failed by every level of governance and every level of safety net and then corralled into silence for the greater good.

1. The length of time which has elapsed since the offences, which has to be weighed against the benefits of re-opening such a sensitive issue.

@TreeSquirrel thank you for answering my question. Do you think there should also be a statute of limitation such as you mentioned above for all crimes - such as war criminals?
What about other incidents of rape?

Oh my beloved guardian of yore. Not any more. They loathe working class communities.

In my experience yes, abuse happens but hidden.

Community relations in the area concerned

Are you suggesting the mass rape of young vulnerable girls mainly in poverty and white by a majority Pakistani grooming gangs should be covered up and take second fiddle in case they inflame tensions?

The potential for enflamed tensions at national level fuelled by far-right agitators. We don’t want a repeat of the thuggery witnessed last summer.

You quite conviently forgot to add harehills riots in leeds, were these far right?

A potential increase in racism and xenophobia by the far-right

The fact the groomers paedophiles and rapists that were from mainly Pakistani gangs means they should not be investigated in case it stokes racial tensions?

The fact that these offences have already been investigated by the police and also by the 2022 Jay report

These reports only covered small areas and failed to cover the now 50 or so new towns and cities across the north where further systemic grooming gangs have been found and the fact the police and council officials have never answered for their actions as many are still in power and the fact this is still going on?

The length of time which has elapsed since the offences, which has to be weighed against the benefits of re-opening such a sensitive issue.

So as this has been going on for a long long time we should sweep it under the carpet and not have one huge centralised national investigation.

Might have something to do with the fact that her boss, Kier Starmer, was in charge of the CPS when it all came to light.

@Barbadossunset

A salute of limitations isn’t relevant here as what’s being proposed is a public inquiry. There has already been a criminal investigation and the issue was included in the 2022 Jay report.