The UK government announced on Monday that it will introduce stringent new laws to “root out the scourge” of grooming gangs, which are suspected of sexually exploiting thousands of girls and young women.
This announcement coincides with a nationwide crackdown on these criminal groups.
Interior Minister Yvette Cooper informed parliament that new legislation would ensure that “adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 face the most serious charge of rape.” This legislative push follows the publication of a damning report by House of Lords member Louise Casey.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had already declared on Sunday that a new national inquiry into the scandal would be launched, adopting one of Casey’s 12 key recommendations.
Cooper confirmed the government’s agreement, stating, “We agree, and we will set up a national inquiry to that effect.”
The Casey report highlighted that the ethnicity of perpetrators was often avoided in recording, making accurate national data assessment difficult.
However, Cooper acknowledged that Asian men, particularly of Pakistani descent, were “overrepresented” in these cases and mandated that the ethnicity and nationality of suspects in grooming cases would now be recorded.
Grooming gangs typically targeted predominantly white girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, some residing in children’s homes, operating in several English towns and cities, including Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford, and Bristol, for almost four decades.
The issue gained international attention in January when tech billionaire Elon Musk publicly criticised the UK government on his X platform for its initial resistance to calls for a national inquiry.
