Lib Dem MP welcomes chance for “justice for the victims” of London Grooming Gangs and calls on new PM to implement Jay Report on “first day in office"

Responding to the news that London will be included in the first tranche of investigations conducted by the Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, Luke Taylor MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for London, said:

“I’m glad to see that London will be included in the first wave of investigations as part of the Grooming Gangs Inquiry, as I requested of Baroness Longfield when we discussed the draft Terms of Reference for the inquiry. Hopefully this means that justice for the victims, already delayed for too long, will be reached as quickly as possible - and those responsible for the failures that gave gangs the chance to wreak such havoc on such young lives will finally be held to account"

“Those who would have muddied this process with political stunts and misinformation, as we have sadly seen, risked stopping this moment from even happening. So many victims, and the public at large, deserve to know why so many institutions that should have protected children failed so consistently. This issue is far too serious to have been used as a political football.

“But the incoming Prime Minister doesn’t need to wait for the outcome of this process to start taking action. They already have the 20 recommendations of the Jay Report shamefully sat gathering dust in a drawer. For the sake of delivering justice as soon as possible and making sure a scandal like this cannot happen again, they should get on with implementing them on their first day in office”.