Two grooming gang survivors quit national inquiry panel

Two abuse survivors have quit their roles in the government's inquiry into grooming gangs.

Fiona Goddard and Ellie Reynolds resigned from the inquiry's victims and survivors liaison panel on Monday in protest at how the government had handled the process.

In her resignation letter, external, Ms Reynolds said she felt the inquiry had become "less about the truth and more about a cover-up", while both women raised concerns about the two shortlisted chairs having backgrounds in policing and social services.

Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips denied claims of a cover-up and insisted her government was "committed to exposing the failures" to tackle "these appalling crimes".

In a letter to MPs on Parliament's Home Affairs Committee, published on Monday evening, Phillips said: "We are committed to ensuring that the survivor perspective remains at the heart of the process."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in June there would be a national inquiry into grooming gangs covering England and Wales, with Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds joining the panel overseeing the process.

However, a chairperson for the inquiry has yet to be appointed, with the two shortlisted candidates reported to be a former police chief and a social worker.

Ms Goddard said, external this was a "disturbing conflict of interest" because these services had "contributed most to the cover-up of the national mass rape and trafficking of children".

Ms Reynolds told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: "If they were that serious in appointing a chair that was actually going to succeed in this inquiry they would not have picked a police officer or a social worker.

"It should have been a judge - it should have been somebody that was completely impartial and non-biased."

One of the prospective candidates - former deputy chief constable Jim Gamble - is meeting survivors later.

The pair also set out wider complaints around the process, with Ms Goddard claiming there was "a toxic, fearful environment" and "a high risk of people feeling silenced all over again".

Ms Reynolds told the BBC she felt there was "gaslighting" and "manipulation", with the panels being "scripted".

She said survivors had been told they could only submit two questions for the potential chairs in advance, and were not allowed to confer with others.

"We were gaslit to believe we were helping when, in reality, we were just being controlled and silenced again," she added.

In her letter, Phillips defended how long it had taken to select a chair and said the government hoped to confirm the appointment "very shortly".

"It has been alleged that the time it is taking and the process being followed to appoint a chair is an indication of the government seeking to 'cover up', or failing to prioritise, the issue," she said. "This could not be further from the truth."

She said the government was following a "standard process" and "it is by no means exceptional for an inquiry to be announced a few months before a chair is appointed".

Phillips added that she was determined to find a chair "who we are confident will earn the trust of those who have been let down so often by figures in positions of authority".

There were also complaints from Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds that officials were trying to water down the inquiry by widening the scope beyond grooming gangs into broader issues of 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 officials to expand the investigation beyond grooming gangs.

Ms Reynolds says she was among underage children who were raped by a gang of Pakistani brothers in Barrow.

In her resignation letter, she wrote: "The final turning point for me was the push to change the remit, to widen it in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse.

"For many of us, these were not incidental factors; they were central to why we were targeted and why institutions failed to act. To erase that truth us to rewrite history."

Phillips said reports the government was seeking to dilute the focus of the inquiry, either with a regional approach or by expanding the remit beyond grooming gangs, were "untrue" and the scope of the inquiry would be "laser-focused".

The Conservatives have called for the inquiry to be chaired by a senior judge to guarantee impartiality and restore faith in the process.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the resignations "cast a real shadow over the government's efforts to create this national grooming gang inquiry".

He told BBC Breakfast: "They have got to take action now, and grip this because it is one of the worst scandals in our nation's modern history and the victims are being badly let down."

Jenrick was also pressed on comments made by Prof Alexis Jay - who led a seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse - and accused the previous Tory government of lacking engagement over the implementation of her 20 recommendations.

"I think politicians of all stripes did not do enough on this issue," he said. "Everyone should have done more."