(ITV) Sir Keir Starmer has announced the government will launch a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, despite resisting calls for one for months.
It comes after the government commissioned a review into grooming gangs by Baroness Louise Casey, which has recommended a national inquiry, co-ordinating a series of targeted local investigations. Casey’s report is due to be published in full next week.
The prime minister told reporters as he travelled to the G7 summit in Canada: “I have read every single word of her report and I am going to accept her recommendation. That is the right thing to do.”
Since the scandal became a point of fierce political discussion earlier this year, the government has repeatedly insisted there was no need for a national inquiry, instead launching five locally-led investigations.
