Badenoch pushes for renewed action on stalled national grooming gangs inquiry

07 December 2025 , 22:48

862     0

Badenoch pushes for renewed action on stalled national grooming gangs inquiry

Kemi Badenoch will urge the Government to accelerate its efforts to establish a national grooming gangs inquiry on Monday.

The Conservative leader is expected to unveil draft terms of reference for the inquiry, developed with the assistance of some victims and survivors of abuse. 

These terms include a specific focus on non-familiar abuse and consideration of both the “particular religious, ethnic, or national characteristics” of perpetrators, and whether these contributed to public bodies failing to act on concerns about grooming.

Before a press conference on Monday, Mrs Badenoch said: “This is about survivors and what they want. We must give a voice to the voiceless.

“They have told us what an inquiry must include in order to obtain justice. This is what the terms of reference sets out.”

The Government’s efforts to establish a national inquiry have stalled since the Prime Minister announced the probe in June.

In October, the last two candidates to chair the inquiry withdrew from the process amid a dispute over their connections to the police and social services.

And a group of women left the inquiry’s victim liaison panel, accusing the Government of trying to expand its remit to consider other forms of child sexual abuse.

Ministers enlisted Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Louise Casey to help set up the inquiry, but admitted that it could be “months” before a chair was appointed.

Fiona Goddard, one of the women who left the liaison panel, supported the Conservatives’ proposals, saying she had “lost faith in the ability of the Government to make meaningful progress”.

She said: “I have more confidence that the terms of reference released today by the Conservatives reflect the real thoughts and feelings of survivors.

“They stay true to the original purpose of the inquiry and align with the approach proposed by Baroness Louise Casey, offering an honest, transparent, and meaningful framework for the investigation.”

Emma Davis

Deputy Editor