There will be “no hiding place” for Britain's grooming gangs, the Home Secretary has said as Labour scrambles to save its inquiry into the scandal after a fourth survivor quit.
Shabana Mahmood insisted the scope of the probe "will not change" amid claims from people formerly on its panel that the remit could be widened beyond group-based child sexual abuse.
Her intervention comes after a series of resignations from survivors on the inquiry's overseeing panel, with some accusing the Home Office of “contempt” and “political interference” before it has appointed a chair.
Elizabeth, not her real name, quit from the victims and survivors liaison group just a day after the departures of Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds. A fourth survivor also reportedly resigned on Tuesday.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds apologised over the Government's handling of the inquiry.
She told Times Radio on Wednesday she was "sorry if they felt let down by the process", insisting the Government is committed to "delivering justice".
Ms Mahmood acknowledged frustrations about the pace of progress towards launching the inquiry, which was announced by Sir Keir Starmer in June.
But she insisted the probe "is not, and will never be, watered down on my watch" and would focus on how "some of the most vulnerable people in this country" were abused "at the hands of predatory monsters."
"In time, we came to know this as the 'grooming gangs' scandal, though I have never thought the name matched the scale of the evil. We must call them what they were: evil child rapists," Ms Mahmood said in an op-ed for the Times and GB News.
"It is essential that the victims themselves are at the heart of this inquiry. It was for that reason that we set up a victims group to support the inquiry in its inception, and throughout its work.
"It was with a heavy heart, in recent days, I learnt that some members have decided to step away from the group.
"Should they wish to return, the door will always remain open to them. But even if they do not, I owe it to them - and the country - to answer some of the concerns that they have raised."
Ms Mahmood added that the inquiry would be "robust and rigorous," with the power to compel witnesses, and examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders.
In her resignation letter on Monday, Ms Goddard said the process so far had involved "secretive conduct" with instances of "condescending and controlling language" used towards survivors.
She later accused safeguarding minister Jess Phillips of lying for disputing allegations that the inquiry was being watered down and called on her to stand down from her position.
"It is a blatant lie for Jess Phillips to suggest, as she has done... that it is untrue that there has been possibility or conversation around 'expanding the (inquiry's) scope beyond grooming gangs'," Ms Goddard said.
She also expressed deep reservations about the candidates under consideration to chair the inquiry, one of whom was reportedly a former police chief and the other a social worker.
Annie Hudson, a former director of children's services for Lambeth, has now withdrawn her candidacy following recent media coverage, according to reports on Tuesday.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Ms Phillips said opinions varied among victims as to who would be best suited to the role as she faced questions from MPs about the process.
"I will engage with all the victims, regardless of their opinions, and I will listen to those that have been put in the media, that are put in panels, I will always listen and I will speak to all of them," she said.
Ms Goddard told Times Radio that the Home Secretary's statement was "reassuring", but reiterated her call for Ms Phillips to resign on Wednesday.
She said: "It's reassuring to know that this inquiry will now have a specific focus on grooming gangs and will operate in the way Baroness Casey recommended.
"My problem is there is little to no recognition of what Jess Phillips did by nationally calling me a liar when she knew I was telling the truth. I think that there needs to be an apology swiftly followed by Jess Phillips' resignation.
"I do not think a woman that can call a survivor of the grooming gangs a liar publicly to save her own skin should be in a position of protecting and safeguarding women and children.
"I am deeply concerned over the lack of acknowledgement over what has happened today.”
