Survivors must be 'at centre' of grooming inquiry

Barrow Town Council is calling for survivors' views to be at the centre of the national grooming gang inquiry

Councillors in a town where members of a grooming gang targeted young girls have passed a motion calling for the views of survivors to be "at the centre" of a national inquiry into the wave of similar crimes.

Barrow Town Council welcomed the inquiry, announced by the government in June, saying victims and survivors "deserve truth, accountability and justice".

The original motion, written by Reform UK councillors, was amended to remove a resolution to write to the home secretary and the minister for safeguarding requesting Barrow be specifically included in the inquiry.

Three brothers were jailed earlier this year for abusing girls as young as six in the Cumbrian town between 1996 and 2012.

Labour MP for Barrow and Furness Michelle Scrogham said she would ask for the inquiry to include Barrow, but added: "Ultimately it will be for the Independent Commission on Grooming Gangs to decide."

'Watered down'

During a town council meeting, Labour leader Andy Coles said of the amendment to the motion: "It's a technical change as there are many parts to the original motion, as a Labour Group, we agree with but writing to two government ministers isn't helpful."

But Reform town councillor Colin Rudd told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Labour's "wrecking amendment watered down the call for accountability and transparency".

Afterwards, the Barrow Labour Group said: "Councillors Coles and Altree both emphasised... that politicians' voices are not key in an independent commission-led inquiry, it's the survivors' voices."

The motion passed by the council includes a commitment to "formally write to the independent commission offering this town's full support for grooming gang survivors' views being at its centre within the national inquiry's terms of reference once established and offering this council's full co-operation".

It also called on Scrogham, the Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Children Partnership and Cumbria Police to support the council's position.

Cumbria Police said it was "committed to supporting the work of the national inquiry into grooming gangs" alongside other forces across the country.

"The constabulary would also like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who has been a victim of a sexual offence - or any other form of abuse - to come forward," a spokesperson said.