Two grooming gang survivors quit national inquiry panel

Two of the abuse victims have left their positions in the government's investigation into grooming gangs. On Monday, Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds resigned from the inquiry's victims and survivors liaison committee, demonstrating how the government had handled the process. Ms Reynolds said in her resignation letter, she felt the probe had become less about the truth and more about a cover-up, while both women expressed reservations about the two shortlisted chairs' backgrounds in policing and social care. Jess Phillips, the current safety minister, denied allegations of a cover-up and said that her government was committed to exposing the abuses in combating "these horrific crimes.

Phillips wrote to MPs on Parliament's Home Affairs Committee, which was released on Monday evening,

We are committed to ensuring that the survivor perspective remains at the forefront of the process.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer revealed in June that there would be a national inquiry into grooming gangscovering England and Wales, with Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds as the lead on the investigation. However, a chairperson for the investigation has yet to be chosen, with the two shortlisted candidates reportedly being a former police chief and a social worker. This was a disturbing conflict of interest, Ms Goddard said, because these services

contributed most to the cover-up of the national mass rape and trafficking of children.

If they were so concerned in naming a chair that was going to succeed in this investigation, they may not have selected a police officer or a social worker,Ms Reynolds told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.It should have been a judge; it should have had been someone who was completely impartial and non-biased.

One of the prospective candidates, former deputy chief constable Jim Gamble, is meeting survivors later today. Ms Goddard also lodged broader concerns about the process, with Ms. Goddark claiming that there was

a hazardous, fearful environmentanda significant danger of people being silenced all over again. Ms Reynolds said she felt there was gaslighting and manipulation in the BBC, with the panels being

scripted. The survivors were told they could only ask two questions for the potential chairs in advance, and they were not allowed to speak with others, according to her.

We were gaslit to believe we were helping when, in fact, we were just being monitored and silenced again,

she explained. Phillips defended how long it took to pick a chair in a letter, saying the government hoped to announce the appointment

very shortly.

It has been reported that the time it is taking and the process that leads to the appointment of a chair is an indication of the government's effort to 'cover up' or failing to prioritize the subject,

she said. This could not be further from the truth.The government was following a standard procedure, she said, and

it is by no means unusual for an inquiry to be announced a few months before a chair is appointed. Phillips continued that she was determined to find a chair

who we are confident will protect the reputation of those who have been thrown down so often by figures in positions of authority.

Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds' allegations that authorities were trying to water down the investigation by expanding the scope beyond grooming gangs to include topics such as child sexual abuse and exploitation. Ms Goddard, who was abused by gangs while living in a Bradford children's home, said there had been repeated attempts by authorities to broaden the probe beyond grooming gang members. Ms Reynolds claims she was one of underage children in Barrow attacked by a group of Pakistani brothers.

The last turning point for me was to reform the remit,

she wrote in her resignation letter, to broaden it in ways that ignore the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse.

These were not coincidental causes for many of us; they were integral to why we were attacked and why institutions failed to respond. We need to rewrite history in order to erase that truth. According to Phillips, the government was intending to dilute the inquiry's focus, either with a regional strategy or by expanding the remit beyond grooming gangs. The investigation will be

laser-focused" and will be more focused.

The Conservatives have called for the inquiry to be chaired by a senior judge to ensure impartiality and reclaim faith in the process. The resignations, according to shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick,

put a pall over the government's attempts to launch this national grooming inquiry.

They have to take action now, and if this is one of the worst scandals in our country's modern history,he told BBC Breakfast,they have to act immediately and worry this is because the victims are being badly let down. Jenrick was also pressed on remarks made by Prof Alexis Jay, who led a seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse, and accused the former Tory government of lack of interest in the implementation of her 20 recommendations.