Labour's lack of border control 'could fuel new grooming gang crisis'

Labour's lack of control over the UK border risks fuelling another child sex grooming gang crisis, the Conservatives warned today.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said abuse of teenage girls was a 'border security issue' after a damning report said asylum seekers and foreign nationals are involved in a 'significant proportion' of ongoing police investigations.

He lashed out after the long-awaited review by Whitehall troubleshooter Louise Casey was released yesterday, forcing the government to launch a new inquiry.

It found that councils, police forces and the Home Office repeatedly 'shied away' from dealing with 'uncomfortable' questions about the ethnicity of rapists preying on thousands of vulnerable girls.

The report also examined a dozen major live police operations into grooming gangs and found a 'significant proportion' of suspects were asylum seekers or born abroad.