Five women have asked for an apology from Nigel Farage after he suggested they were not victims of grooming gangs.
They described the comments by the Reform leader as “degrading and humiliating”, and accused him of “ignorance” of the issues.
Last week, they wrote to Keir Starmer saying they would only remain on a panel advising the government’s inquiry into the issue if the safeguarding minister Jess Phillips stayed in post and “anyone who believes their evidence should be included” could contribute.
But Farage suggested on Monday that the women were victims of other types of child sexual abuse.
A statement from the women said this had left them “feeling like we have to defend ourselves and prove that we are victims again”.
The women said: “Nigel Farage should apologise. What he said about us is categorically untrue, saying we shouldn’t be on the panel because we are watering it down and we are survivors of other abuse, not grooming gangs. We are survivors of grooming and grooming gangs.
“Farage’s lack of knowledge and assumptions about our experiences as victims and survivors of grooming gangs proves he should not have a platform to make decisions about us or our input.
“His ignorance and untrue statements about us, our experiences and the validity of our involvement, his lack of understanding or care to look into our lives to make sure what he was saying was true, has meant he has dismissed people who this inquiry is for.”
The inquiry was ordered in June, on the recommendation of the Whitehall troubleshooter Louise Casey, who carried out an audit into group-based child sexual exploitation.
Casey’s review found “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds” were among “suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation” in some areas of the country but cautioned that it was difficult to paint an accurate national picture as there was no ethnicity data in most cases.
The women who backed Phillips added that, while they had been abused by Asian men, they were “aware the inquiry is not just about us”. Some of the group were also abused by men from other ethnic backgrounds.
About 30 people who have suffered group-based abuse were asked to join a panel to help appoint a chair and shape the terms of reference. Five have resigned amid claims the government tried to dilute the scope of the inquiry beyond street-based grooming gangs. The panel was asked if it should have a “broader focus” and look at other types of child sexual abuse. They have said they will return only if Phillips resigns.
Ellie-Ann Reynolds, who quit the panel saying the process had become “less about the truth and more about a cover-up”, appeared on Monday alongside the Reform leader at a press conference in London.
Farage said: “Five of the grooming gang victims, those that feel insulted, have withdrawn from the inquiry, but you’ll be told there are five who insist that Jess Phillips stays in place and that the inquiry continues.
“But here’s the truth about the other five. There are two very distinctly different groups of young people who are sexually abused and raped by adults.
“And what has happened with this inquiry is the government have, quite deliberately, from the very start, widened the scope out from those who were victims of Pakistani grooming gangs and brought in other women.
“I’m not demeaning or diminishing in any way the treatment that [they] have been through. I’m just pointing out they were victims, survivors now, of a very different kind of sexual abuse.”
The women who backed Phillips said they worry that focusing only on street grooming will exclude those whose group-based exploitation had begun online, through peers or family members.
They added: “There is no point holding an inquiry if the scope is so small the decision is already made before it begins.”
Two of the group have written memoirs about their experiences of predominantly Asian grooming gangs, using the pseudonyms Scarlett Jones and Caitlin Spencer.
Two more survivors, using the pseudonyms Claire and Katie, said they felt unable to share details of their abuse “through fear of their safety”, but insisted they were victims of “traditional” grooming gangs.
Samantha Walker-Roberts, who was kidnapped in 2006 from a police station in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and trafficked around the town to be abused, aged 12, by multiple men, also signed the letter backing Phillips.
Although her experiences took place over a short period of time, she wants them to be examined by an inquiry as she fears the group who targeted her may have other victims.
The Reform MP Lee Anderson said the party would “need to have a proper, grown-up, adult conversation” with the women about the nature of their abuse.
He added: “With regards to what Nigel has said, that’s up to Nigel. We will speak to him later about that.”
Reform UK has been approached for comment.
