Local inquiry into grooming gangs needed in London

There should “absolutely” be a local inquiry into the extent grooming gangs are operating in London, according to the former Conservative mayoral candidate.

Susan Hall, who also chairs the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, said the public needed “transparency” on the issue, adding: “In a city of nine million people, I cannot imagine we don’t have this going on”.

Ms Hall was speaking after questioning Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist and Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Kaya Comer-Schwartz at City Hall on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Mr Twist declined to comment specifically on whether grooming gangs similar to those seen in Rotherham and Rochdale are operating in the capital, but reassured the committee that the Met remained committed to tackling “child exploitation which includes child sexual abuse”.

Ms Hall told the PA news agency: “I know there’s a lot of really good work going on in what they call ‘the space’ now.

“But it still leaves that big question. Do we have those grooming gangs in London? And nobody seems to want to answer… This is important because A, transparency. We should know.

“But B, if they know this sort of thing is happening the public would then be even more alert to watching out for it… If what we’re hearing now is ‘well we don’t really have that’, which they’re saying without saying it, then the worry is that people will be more complacent.”

Ms Hall said a local inquiry was “absolutely” needed for London and added: “I cannot imagine, with nine million people living in an area, that we don’t have this going on.

“Because we also have great poverty in areas of London, we have lots of looked after kids, we have lots of children from very vulnerable backgrounds.

“I cannot imagine it’s not going on here. I’d love to think it wasn’t.”

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced an audit looking into the current scale and nature of “gang-based exploitation” across the country as well as local reviews into grooming in some areas.

The Government has previously knocked back calls for a national review in favour of locally-led inquiries, saying it is focused on implementing recommendations from Professor Alexis Jay’s 2022 report on the issue.

The issue gained international attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk posted a slew of attacks aimed at the Prime Minister over the issue at the start of the year.