Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said grooming gang perpetrators are “peasants” from “sub-communities” in other countries.
She has now met survivors after revealing last week she had not met any while calling for a new national inquiry into the scandal that saw thousands of mainly white girls being abused by men of mainly Pakistani origin.
Ms Badenoch said she was shocked by their stories and an inquiry needs to look at “cultural issues”.
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“There is a systematic pattern of behaviour not even just from one country, but from sub-communities within those countries, people with a particular background, particular class background, work background,” she told GB News.
“You know, people [who are] very, very poor, sort of peasant background, very, very rural, almost cut off from even the home origin countries that they might have been in.
“They’re not necessarily first generation. The jobs that they were doing… allowed them to exhibit this predatory behaviour.”
She also said there is another issue of the “culture of silence, the culture of ‘computer says no’, the culture of ‘move along, nothing to see here’, the culture of ‘this is not our problem’, which is on the side of the state”.
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The Tory leader said a national inquiry needs to look at both “cultural issues” at the same time.
She has repeatedly clashed with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as she calls for a new national inquiry.
The government has said another national inquiry is not needed after a seven-year inquiry was published in 2022 by Professor Alexis Jay.
It has said the focus should instead be on implementing the 20 recommendations made by Professor Jay, and is in favour of locally-led inquiries.
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk brought the issue to international attention as he attacked Sir Keir for his involvement in prosecuting grooming gangs while he was chief prosecutor from 2008-2013. The prime minister has pushed back against Mr Musk’s claims.
Ms Badenoch said a national inquiry would shine a light on the truth and hold people to account.
“This is about those victims who deserve justice,” she said.
“The survivors who deserve justice by making sure that every single perpetrator we can find is caught and brought to justice, and those who failed in their duty to protect their children are held to account and exposed.”
Her comments came as the Labour MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion called for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, but led locally.
