PM insists ‘injustice will have no place to hide’ in grooming gangs inquiry

Sir Keir Starmer has defended the grooming inquiry, saying “injustice will have no place to hide” and telling MPs Baroness Louise Casey will support its work.

Challenged at Prime Minister’s Questions over the resignation of four women from the inquiry’s victims and survivors panel, Sir Keir said the “door will always be open” should they wish to return.

He said: “The inquiry is not and will never be watered down. Its scope will not change.

“It will examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders, and we will find the right person to chair the inquiry.

“I can tell the house today, Mr Speaker, that Dame Louise Casey will now support the work of the inquiry, and it will get to the truth. Injustice will have no place to hide.”

His comments came in response to a question from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who asked on behalf of Fiona Goddard, one of the women who quit the panel: “Being dismissed and contradicted by a minister when you’re telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again.

“Fiona’s question is simple: ‘What’s the point in speaking up if we’re just going to be called liars?’”

Earlier, Cabinet minister Emma Reynolds had apologised to the survivors for the Government’s handling of the inquiry, saying she was “sorry if they felt let down by the process”.