Woman who quit panel says she was asked about ‘broader approach’, despite Shabana Mahmood’s insistence focus will not change
Grooming gang victims have accused the UK government of attempting to manipulate them into broadening a national inquiry to include other forms of sexual abuse, despite Shabana Mahmood’s insistence that the focus will not change.
They suspect that the government is trying to deflect focus away from Labour-led councils, wishes to impose a government-friendly chair and wants to avoid raising questions over the ethnicity of the perpetrators, many of whom were men of Pakistani descent.
Their comments come after four abuse survivors resigned from their roles on the victims and survivors liaison panel, accusing the Home Office and ministers of sidelining them and seeking to widen the inquiry for political ends.
Mahmood, the home secretary, has been forced to intervene, insisting that the inquiry will leave “no hiding place” for those involved in the scandal.
