Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has voiced his support for a ‘limited’ national inquiry into child grooming gangs.
The mayor said a national inquiry would be able to ‘compel’ people to give evidence in abuse investigations, something that reviews into abuse in Manchester, Rochdale and Oldham were unable to do.
Mr Burnham’s comments follow yesterday’s defeat of the Conservative’s amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which proposed the establishment of a national abuse inquiry.
The amendment, which was largely symbolic because of the size of Labour’s majority, would have killed the Bill which includes measures aimed at protecting children, such as stricter rules around home-schooling.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the Government was focused on delivering the reforms set out in the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and that a new probe would only delay the action the victims wanted.
For more on this topic, check out Stopping child exploitation.
