Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman have been warned that sexual predators do not just come from “one background” and that a focus solely on ethnicity or race would be “very dangerous”.
The warning from Labour, the NSPCC and top academics came after the home secretary singled out British-Pakistani men as a major source of concern as the government reveals a range of measures to tackle grooming gangs.
Mr Sunak pledged that “political correctness” about ethnicity will not get in the way of a crackdown on grooming gangs as he promised tougher sentences and a new police taskforce.
Ms Braverman was criticised after she claimed “the perpetrators are groups of men, almost all British Pakistani”, repeatedly alluding to high-profile cases in Rotherham and Rochdale.
But Sabah Kaiser – the ethnic minority ambassador for the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse – told BBC Radio 4 it was “very, very dangerous for the government to turn child sexual abuse into a matter of colour”.
Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive the NSPCC, also told BBC Breakfast that perpetrators “do not just come from one background” – warning the government that it was “really important that by raising an issue such as race we don’t create other blind spots”.
A 2020 Home Office report found that group-based sex offenders are “most commonly white” – concluding that there was no evidence that any one ethnic group is over-represented in cases of child sexual exploitation.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said political correctness should not "get in the way" of prosecuting grooming gangs – but also warned of the danger in focusing only on ethnicity.
He told LBC: “The vast majority of sexual abuse cases do not involve those of ethnic minorities and so I am all for clamping down on any kind of case, but if we are going to be serious we have to be honest about what the overlook is.”
The Labour leader later told broadcasters: “Ethnicity is important and nothing should get in the way of investigating and prosecuting child sexual exploitation. But if you look at the overall figure that is, you know, a relatively small element of it.”
On Ms Braverman’s plans for a legal duty to report any suspected sexual abuse, Sir Keir claimed that he “called for that in 2013”, adding: “That is a decade lost.”
Dr Ella Cockbain, and associate professor at University College London, warned that the home secretary was playing into the hands of the “hard-right” by focusing on British-Pakistani men.
She told Radio 4’s Today programme: “She [Ms Braverman] is choosing to mainstream hard-right talking points, and to push discredited stereotypes. That is really dangerous and reductive. It allows other offenders to get away with abuse.”
Mr Sunak visited in Rochdale on Monday to announce a new taskforce, which will see local forces supported by the National Crime Agency specialists with “extensive experience” of grooming gang probes
The plan will also try to improve the use of ethnicity data used to assist the police investigating grooming gangs – something No 10 argued is necessary to ensure “cultural sensitivities” are not used to prevent criminals being caught.
Asked if the focus on British-Asian grooming gangs was appropriate, Mr Sunak, speaking during a visit to Rochdale, said: “All forms of child sexual exploitation carried out by whomever are horrific and wrong.”
The PM added: “But with the specific issue of grooming gangs we have had several independent inquiries look at the incidents here in Rochdale, but in Rotherham and Telford.
“What is clear is that when victims and other whistle-blowers came forward their complaints were often ignored by social workers, local politicians, or even the police. The reason they were ignored was due to cultural sensitivity and political correctness. That is not right.”
Mr Sunak said the government does not know how many sex abusers operate in grooming gangs because “it’s not being reported”, conceding that “we need to a better job”.
Ms Braverman was accused of “dog whistle” politics on Sunday after she said “we have to be honest about the fact that some of these gangs have been overwhelmingly British-Pakistani males”.
But the home secretary told GB News on Monday that it was “not racist to tell the truth about what has been going on” with the high-profile cases in Rochdale and Rotherham.
She said it was “important not to demonise a whole community”, but added: “I’ve met victims today who’ve confirmed as much bearing out their own experience, that there have been cultural trends in the practices that we’ve seen, and authorities and professionals have turned a blind eye out of fear of being called racist”.
No 10 also denied Ms Braverman’s comments were a “dog whistle” to racists. Mr Sunak’s spokesman told reporters: “What she said was that some of these gangs were largely made up of British Pakistani men. I believe that is factually accurate.”
Pressed on the previous Home Office-commissioned research, the No 10 official accepted that it found “it’s not possible to conclude, essentially make conclusions about characteristics because of the lack of data”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper labelled the government response “hopelessly inadequate”, adding: “Only 11% of child sexual abuse cases ends with a charge – down from 32% seven years ago – and the court delays have got far worse with victims waiting years for justice.”
