Explained | UK PM Sunak’s task force for grooming gang crackdown will not adhere to ‘political correctness’

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on Monday (April 3) unveiled his plans to create a new task force which would crack down on grooming gangs in Britain and claimed that “political correctness” will not get in the way of their actions.

This comes a day after, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, in a series of media interviews criticised the culture of silence around British Pakistani male gangs involved in child sexual abuse at the fear of being called racists.

Here’s what you need to know about the ongoing debate in the UK:

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What is grooming?

According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), grooming is when someone, a stranger or someone you know, builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.

“Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked,” said the UK-based organisation. Children and young people can be groomed online, in person or both, by a stranger or someone they know, it added.

UK Home Secretary's claims

Last year, a seven-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) described sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”. In line with its recommendations, Braverman said that the government has sought to introduce a policy to make failure to report child sexual abuse illegal for people who work with children in England, on Sunday.

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She added, the policy will target criminals who hold cultural attitudes that are incompatible with British values and how they remain unchallenged within their communities out of political correctness and fear of being called racists.

In this context, she was referring to British Pakistani grooming gangs that she said targeted “vulnerable white girls living in troubled circumstances.” The home secretary added, these girls had been abused, drugged, raped, and exploited by networks of gangs of rapists, which she claimed were “overwhelmingly” made up of British-Pakistani males, reported BBC.

However, “cultural sensitivities” and concerns about “being called bigoted” had played a role in high-profile abuse scandals including in Rochdale and Rotherham, Braverman told the UK-based media outlet.

Investigations into UK’s grooming gangs

The bombshell report published in October by the IICSA gathered data from seven years of hearings and testimonies from 725 witnesses. The report accounted for abuse which took place in schools, children’s homes and religious institutions and described the scale of abuse as “deeply disturbing”. It also found a “horrifying picture” of children being “threatened, beaten and humiliated”.

A separate report in 2014 by Professor Alexis Jay found that 1,400 children had been subjected to sexual abuse in the UK’s Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 where the perpetrators were predominantly men of Pakistani heritage. This report also found girls as young as 11 being groomed and trafficked across the north of England by gangs of men, mainly of Pakistani heritage.

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Jay, in her report, also called for the agencies to “acknowledge the suspected model of localised grooming of young white girls by men of Pakistani heritage, instead of being inhibited by the fear of affecting community relations. People must be able to raise concerns without fear of being labelled racist.”

Similarly, earlier this year, a documentary named Grooming Gangs: Britain’s Shame also claimed that child sex abuse perpetrated by British Pakistani grooming gangs continues to take place but has been ignored by the police almost a decade after it was exposed, reported the Telegraph.

On the other hand, a Home Office-commissioned research, in 2020, found that overall there is not enough evidence to suggest that members of these so-called grooming gangs were more likely to be Asian or black than other ethnicities and are carried out predominantly by young white men.

Backlash from Braverman’s comments

Following Braverman’s remarks, the NSPCC and experts on grooming gangs have warned lawmakers not to frame the issue based on ethnicity as it could hamper tackling the crime. “It’s also vital we remember that any child can be a victim of child sexual exploitation and adult perpetrators do not just come from one background,” said Sir Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC.

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He added, “Sexual predators will target the most vulnerable and accessible children in society and there must be a focus on more than just race so we do not create new blindspots that prevent victims from being identified.”

According to official reports, only 11 per cent of child sexual abuse cases in the UK end with a charge which is down from 32 per cent seven years ago.

The director of public prosecutions, when the Rochdale gangs were prosecuted, Keir Starmer, said that while “political correctness should not get in the way” of tackling the issue we must also rely on facts. “The vast majority of sexual abuse cases do not involve those of ethnic minorities,” he added, in an interview with LBC Radio.

Braverman was also slammed for ignoring her own department’s evidence and broader research, “she’s choosing instead to mainstream hard-right talking points, and to push discredited stereotypes,” told Dr Ella Cockbain, associate professor of crime science at University College London to BBC Radio.

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Notably, high-profile cases in Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford where perpetrators were groups of men of mainly Pakistani ethnicity have fueled the perception of grooming being an “Asian problem” in the UK, as per the Guardian.

The Labour Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, criticising the home secretary’s remarks called it a “dog whistle” suggesting that Braverman is unaware of steps that have been taken to mitigate the gangs.

What has the UK government proposed?

In addition to the home secretary’s proposed policy, UK PM Sunak plans to launch a new grooming gangs taskforce which will be set up with specialist officers supported by the National Crime Agency. The crime agency will help local forces with their child sexual exploitation and grooming investigations by offering the use of ethnicity data.

In a statement, prior to the announcement during a visit to Leeds and Manchester, he said, “For too long political correctness has stopped us from weeding out vile criminals who prey on children and young women.” He added, “We will stop at nothing to stamp out these dangerous gangs.”

The PM has also vowed that grooming gang members and leaders will receive the toughest sentences possible with the introduction of these proposed legislations.

(With inputs from agencies)