From the Yorkshire Post
The new Reform leader of Bradford Council has written to Baroness Anne Longfield to ask for the entire district to be included in the national grooming gang inquiry.
The former children’s commissioner, who hails from Ilkley, is chairing the Government’s £65m three-year statutory probe into child sexual exploitation (CSE).
Before Parliament’s summer recess, the inquiry is set to announce four areas to focus on, as well as Oldham.
Bradford politicians have long been calling for an independent investigation into grooming gangs in the district, particularly Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore.
Now Coun Stephen Place, the new Reform leader of Bradford Council after the local elections, said he had formally written to Baroness Longfield to “ensure that the Bradford and wider district, to include Keighley, is fully included within the national enquiry into CSE and gang-related grooming.”
“This was one of my first acts as leader of the council,” he said. “If Bradford district is not included, then we will undertake all steps necessary to begin the process of an independent inquiry. For two decades, despite numerous calls for an enquiry or even an acknowledgement that the problem exists there has been no meaningful attempts to act on this matter. We will continue to update the public.”
Solicitors Switalskis previously told The Yorkshire Post that victims from different parts of the country “report being trafficked” to the city.
. . . grooming gangs survivor Fiona Goddard . . . who was abused as a teenager in the city, said: “Many grooming gang cases across the UK have links to Bradford, with children trafficked here from across the country.
