The government-established independent inquiry into Muslim child rape grooming gangs will begin its investigation with Bradford, Oldham, and London, despite long-standing denials from Mayor Sadiq Khan that the British capital was impacted by the scandal.
The statutory inquiry, which was launched last year in the wake of a report by Baroness Louise Casey that forced the left-wing Labour Party government to finally admit that there was “clear evidence” that Pakistani Muslims were vastly overrepresented in grooming gang sexual abuse of often young, white, working-class girls. The report also reiterated accusations that local officials, including social workers, health care officials, police officers, and school employees, had ignored victims for fear of appearing racist or stoking ethnic tensions.
While Prime Minsiter Sir Keir Starmer had initially cast those calling for an independent inquiry as doing the bidding of the so-called “far-right“, public pressure and the Casey report forced him to capitulate. Critically, unlike past investigations or the recent review by Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, the government’s inquiry will have statutory powers, enabling it to compel witnesses to testify and to force the release of documents.
The inquiry, which will be led by former Children’s Commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, said on Wednesday that it will begin its investigations with Bradford, Oldham, and London. The investigation will also review if changes were successfully implemented following past reviews in areas including Oxford and Rotherham, the BBC reported.
The investigation may put the spotlight on the administration of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has consistently maintained that the city he runs does not have a grooming gang issue. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley also initially claimed that Scotland Yard had “not seen” such groups in London, before later admitting this was unlikely to be the case.
Indeed, an investigation from the Express newspaper last year said that it found at least six criminal cases in the capital with elements that would indicate grooming gang activity, including a 15-year-old girl being plied with drugs and alcohol before being raped at a London hotel by several men.
The inquiry said on Wednesday that London had one of the highest rates of child sexual exploitation in Britain, but it represents a significant challenge to investigators, given that as a capital city, it has widespread links across the country and includes many smaller towns within its greater metro area.
“A London investigation will help the inquiry understand how grooming gangs were identified and responded to across multiple organisations and overlapping local, regional, and national systems and where children were not protected,” the investigators said per the Times of London.
Meanwhile, Bradford and Oldham have long been areas linked to grooming gang activity. Fiona Goddard, a survivor of a Pakistani Muslim grooming gang in Bradford who quit the inquiry’s victims panel last year over concerns it was elevating police and social workers to leadership positions, said on Wednesday: “It’s been a long road, but we are here finally.”
Commenting on the announcement, Robbie Moore, the MP for Keighley and Ilkley in Bradford, said that for “many years” local politicians and police officers in the city had “repeatedly rejected our calls for an inquiry.”
“It was my firm view that these refusals mirrored the same patterns of denial seen in towns like Rotherham and Telford. There, decades of abuse were hidden in plain sight until independent inquires finally forced the truth into the open.
“It was deeply frustrating, but nevertheless welcome that it was only once a national inquiry was recommended by Baroness Casey in June 2025, supported by the Home Secretary, that these same local leaders changed their position, and supported our calls.
“Whilst no inquiry can undo the pain and suffering they have endured, it can help ensure the truth is uncovered and that those who were failed finally receive the answers they have spent years fighting for.”