How To Save… victims of ‘grooming gangs’

Why are they worth saving?

Well, how would you feel if that happened to you? The devastating impact upon the real victims is obvious to everyone – or should be.

So, where did it all go wrong?

We have known for years what needed to be done, thanks to Professor Jay’s compendious report. Unfortunately, a rudderless Conservative party failed to grasp the nettle when in power, and now it is floundering in opposition has chosen instead to weaponise the issue, in a desperate attempt to stem the drift of older xenophobic voters to the most recent far-right competitor. The continued irresponsibility is extraordinary; calling for a purposeless extra national inquiry which would delay a meaningful response even further, and using openly racist language to justify inaction, ought to elicit deep shame in the heart of any parliamentarian.

What might work

What will make a difference both to past victims and the children of the future is, simply, delivering the changes that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recommended. Some of that response will require legislation, for instance to impose a formal duty upon all professionals to report suspected child abuse to the proper authorities – a reform, incidentally, which could have saved the BBC and the Church of England an age of sorrow if delivered by a previous generation. Careful, thoughtful development of policing and youthwork in order to provide a genuine service to any young people at risk today will be required at the frontline. A serious, grown-up approach to government will be required to bring that about – but it is well within our collective abilities as a society.

What won’t work

• Victim-blaming
• Procedural procrastination
• Anti-wokism (pro-sleepism?)
• Wanging-on about immigrants
• Jumping on the Chief Twit’s bandwagon
• Robert Jenrick

Chances of salvation

Thankfully, the A-team are on the field; a former Director of Public Prosecutions who has demonstrably always taken this issue very seriously is now Prime Minister, and the Home Secretary has been all over the detail for decades. There’s dwindling hope for the Conservative front bench, who have probably irreparably tarnished their reputation with such gutter politics – but a decent chance that victims are now getting the recognition and the action they reasonably expect.