The government will fund any further local inquiries into the grooming gangs scandal that are deemed necessary, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

However, the prime minister said it is his “strong belief” that the focus must be on implementing recommendations from the Alexis Jay national review before more investigations go ahead.

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It follows a row over whether Labour is still committed to the five local inquiries it promised in January, after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips failed to provide an update on them in a statement to parliament hours before it closed for recess on Tuesday.

Instead, Ms Phillips told MPs that local authorities will be able to access a £5m fund to support locally-led work on grooming gangs.

On Thursday morning, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted the “victim-centred, locally-led inquiries” will still go ahead, while a Home Office source told Sky News more could take place in addition to the five.

Speaking to Sky News’ Rob Powell later on Thursday, Sir Keir confirmed that there could be more inquiries than those five but said the government must also “get on and implement the recommendations we’ve already got”.

The prime minister said: “Of course, if there’s further local inquiries that are needed then we will put some funding behind that, and they should happen.

“But I don’t think that simply saying we need more inquiries when we haven’t even acted on the ones that we’ve had is necessarily the only way forward.”

Ms Phillips’s earlier comments led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils choice over how to use the funds.

Sky News understands she was due to host a briefing with MPs this afternoon at 5pm – the second she had held in 24 hours – in an attempt to calm concern amongst her colleagues.

Review recommendations ‘sat on a shelf’

Sir Keir insisted he is not watering down his commitment for the five local enquiries, but said the Jay recommendations were “sitting on a shelf under the last government” and he is “equally committed” to them.

He added: “At the most important level, if there is evidence of grooming that is coming to light now, we need a criminal investigation. I want the police investigation because I want perpetrators in the dock and I want justice delivered.”

In October 2022, Professor Alexis Jay finished a seven-year national inquiry into the many ways children in England and Wales had been sexually abused, including grooming gangs.

Girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago.

Prof Jay made 20 recommendations which haven’t been implemented yet, with Sir Keir saying on Thursday he will bring 17 of them forward.

However, the Tories and Reform UK want the government to fund a new national inquiry specifically into grooming gangs, demands for which first started last year after interventions by tech billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X.

‘Fuelling confusion’

Reform leader Nigel Farage said the statement made by Ms Phillips “was one of the most cowardly things I have ever seen” as he repeated calls for a fresh inquiry.

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, also told Sky News that ministers were “fuelling confusion” and that the “mess.. could have been avoided if the government backed a full national inquiry – not this piecemeal alternative”.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the government needed to look at “state failings” and she would try and force a fresh vote on holding another national inquiry, which MPs voted down in January.

‘Political mess’

As well as facing criticism from the Opposition, there are signs of a backlash within Labour over how the issue has been handled.

Labour MPs angry with government decision grooming gangs

Mhari Aurora

Political correspondent

@MhariAurora

With about an hour until the House of Commons rose for Easter recess, the government announced it was taking a more “flexible” approach to the local grooming gang inquiries.

Safeguarding minister Jess Philips argued this was based on experience from certain affected areas, and that the government is funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases.

Speaking on Times Radio, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Sir Trevor Phillips called the move “utterly shameful” and claimed it was a political decision.

One Labour MP told Sky News: “Some people are very angry. I despair. I don’t disagree with many of our decisions but we just play to Reform – someone somewhere needs sacking.”

The government has insisted party political misinformation was fanning the flames of frustration in Labour.

The government also said it was not watering down the inquiries and was actually increasing the action being taken.

But while many Labour MPs have one eye on Reform in the rearview mirror, any accusations of being soft on grooming gangs only provides political ammunition to their adversaries.

One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a “political mess” and that they were being called “grooming sympathisers”.

On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the “right thing to do” but that it was “horrible politically”.

“We are all getting so much abuse. It’s just political naivety in the extreme.”

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‘We will leave no stone unturned’

Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was “far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors”.

“We are funding new police investigations to re-open historical cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey… is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country,” she said.

“We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven-year national inquiry when they had the chance.

“We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children.”

Elected councillors must “do what they need to do” to serve the people, Kemi Badenoch said after she suggested Reform and the Tories could form alliances at a local level.

The Conservative leader said that while she doesn’t actively support council coalitions, she is ultimately leaving the decision to local politicians “because they can’t have a re-election if they don’t have an outright majority”.

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However, she said that at a national level “we’re trying to rebuild trust with the public” and “suddenly saying that we’re rushing to form a pact or merge with another party is not what I was elected to do”.

Ms Badenoch was speaking during a local election visit to Lancashire after earlier comments about local coalitions were attacked by opposition parties.

She has consistently ruled out a pact at a national level with Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage has vowed to “destroy” the Tories.

But speaking to BBC Breakfast on Thursday, she suggested the picture could be different at a local level, saying: “I’ve seen Conservatives go into coalition with Labour, with Liberal Democrats, with Independents.

“What I’m telling local leaders across the country (is) they have to do what is right for the people in their local area and they must stick to Conservative principles.”

Labour Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves said it is “crystal clear” that if you vote Reform or Conservative, “you’re opening the door to more of the Tory chaos that held our country back over the past 14 years”.

Liberal Democrats deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the two parties had “merged in all but name”, adding: “You couldn’t put a cigarette paper between Badenoch and Farage when it comes to their policies. It’s clear the Conservatives have totally abandoned the centre ground.”

Reform meanwhile snubbed the offer, saying they are “not interested in coalitions” and are focused on “taking the fight to Labour and the Conservatives”.

Ms Badenoch later insisted she is “‘not supporting coalitions at a local level”.

She told reporters: “I am leaving the decision to local leaders because they can’t have a re-election if they don’t have an outright majority.

“And it’s right that they do what they need to do to serve the people of a community. These local elections are not opinion polls.”

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The Tories face an uphill battle at the local elections on 1 May, with polling suggesting the party is yet to recover from its catastrophic general election defeat in July.

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Latest YouGov polling for Sky News’ Sam and Anne’s podcast put Labour marginally in the lead, followed by Reform and then the Tories.

The Lib Dems were fourth but their 17 points was the highest level of support they’ve had since 2017.

The Tories are defending more than half of the seats up for election, having won them in 2021 thanks in part to a Covid-19 vaccine polling bounce.

Votes will take place in 23 of England’s 317 local authorities, and there will also be a by-election in Runcorn following the resignation of Labour’s Mike Amesbury, who last month was given a suspended prison sentence for punching a man.

Senior Tory MP Esther McVey has previously said the Tories should “let Reform win” in Runcorn as part of an electoral pact, but Ms Badenoch today said: “That’s absolutely the wrong thing.”

She added: “We need to make sure that people always have the option to vote Conservative, and that’s the message that I’m taking out for these local government elections on May 1.”

More military support for Ukraine will be announced on Friday as the UK and its allies “must step up support”, the defence secretary said.

John Healey said the extra support will be announced at the 27th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.

The group is an alliance of about 50 countries – all 32 NATO member states, including the US, and about 20 other nations – that has been supporting Ukraine by sending military equipment there since April 2022, a few weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

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Mr Healey said: “We cannot jeopardise the peace by forgetting about the war.

“The daily reality for millions of Ukrainians continues – drone attacks, missile strikes, brutal fighting on the frontline – so we must put more pressure on President Putin to end his war and we must step up support for Ukraine both in the fight and in the push for peace.

“That’s why I’m grateful that so many of you who are here today will also be here tomorrow for the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group when we will pledge more military support to bolster Ukraine on the battlefield.”

Mr Healey and German defence minister Boris Pistorius will host the meeting the day after the UK defence secretary and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu led 30 defence ministers from the “coalition of the willing” in Brussels.

The group, which does not include the US, was set to discuss operational plans on Thursday afternoon for a multinational peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

It will look at each nation’s capabilities and how they could be best used to support Ukraine’s long-term defence and security as part of what the Ministry of Defence called a “reassurance force”.

UK and French military chiefs discussed planning with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military chiefs in Kyiv last weekend.

Peace negotiations are ongoing between the US and Russia, however, US officials appear to be growing increasingly impatient with the lack of progress after Donald Trump publicly suggested a month ago that Vladimir Putin wants to end the war.

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Last Tuesday, the Kremlin described the latest US peace proposal as unacceptable in its current form because it does not solve the “root causes” of the conflict.

Mr Putin wants to dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and has demanded Kyiv recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and other partly occupied areas and pull its forces out, as well as a pledge for Ukraine to never join NATO and to demilitarise.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Friday that Mr Trump is not “going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations” with Moscow.

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Despite the apparent impasse in talks, the coalition of the willing – which does not include the US – is continuing with its plans for when peace is agreed.

The latest development in the war has seen Mr Zelenskyy say Ukraine has intelligence that there are at least 155 Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian military.

On Tuesday, Mr Zelenskyy released a video of a Chinese soldier taken by Ukrainian forces, with another captured by Ukrainian forces, he said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian denied claims there were “many more” Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russians in Ukraine.

It came as Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the British armed forces, visited China on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Mr Healey said it was “always good thing to have military to military communications”.

The defence secretary said Sir Tony was “very firm” about the “importance of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific” and the “concern about any use of military aggression or assertiveness to pursue political ends”.