Yvette Cooper made an ‘unequivocal’ apology to grooming gang victims today as a ‘damning’ report accused institutions of ‘dodging’ questions about the ethnicity of offenders.

In a moment of shame for UK authorities, the Home Secretary finally triggered a national inquiry into the sexual abuse of underage girls, admitting those who suffered ‘despicable crimes’ had been ‘let down’.

She told the House of Commons that a ‘no holds barred’ review by Baroness Casey had identified ‘deep-rooted failure to treat children as children’, ‘denial’ of facts and ‘fragmentation’.

The Whitehall troubleshooter found perpetrators of Asian heritage were ‘overrepresented’ in cases, condemning institutions for ‘avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist’.

In her excoriating assessment, Lady Casey said there was a ‘continued failure to gather proper robust national data’ on the ethnicity of criminals, with information recorded in just a third of cases.

Ms Cooper said a national inquiry will be set up oversee local investigations – something Keir Starmer had been rejecting until his humiliating U-turn at the weekend.

She told MPs that all adults who engage in penetrative sex with under-16s would now face the most serious charges of rape, after the report found that some faced lesser charges because they were deemed to be in ‘consensual’ relationships with underage girls.

Ms Cooper declared that Britain’s version of the FBI will lead ‘a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators’.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that those who had suffered ‘despicable crimes’ had been ‘let down’ by the authorities

A review by Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey concluded that years of warnings about abuse of white girls were institutionally ignored ‘for fear of appearing racist’

The conclusions sparked a dramatic volte face from Keir Starmer over the weekend

She told the House of Commons that Baroness Casey’s ‘no holds barred’ review had identified ‘deep-rooted failure to treat children as children’, ‘denial’ and ‘fragmentation’

The Whitehall troubleshooter found perpetrators of Asian heritage were ‘overrepresented’ in cases, suggesting institutions had ‘avoided the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist’

Lady Casey said ‘honest debate’ was needed about the ethnicity of perpetrators

The PM made a dramatic volte face at the weekend after reading the report. He previously suggested those calling for a national probe into the rape and sexual abuse of thousands of girls by gangs of mainly Pakistani-heritage men were ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ of the ‘far-Right’.

Downing Street stood by the premier’s ‘bandwagon’ jibe today, arguing he was pointing out hypocrisy by Tories who had failed to tackle the issue while in power. 

But Kemi Badenoch accused him of a ‘total failure of leadership’. 

In a highly significant moment for the country, Lady Casey’s report:

• Found evidence Asian heritage suspects were ‘over-represented’ in grooming gang cases;
• Hit out at authorities for being in denial about ethnicity of offenders because they feared being branded ‘racist’;
• Warned that the scandals could be repeated due to the lack of robust national data on ethnicity of offenders;
• Said institutions had failed to treat children as children, assuming that they were complicit in their own abuse;
• Called for adults who have sex with 13-15 year olds to receive mandatory rape charges, as happens in France; 

Baroness Casey initially opposed a new grooming probe.  But the crossbench peer told reporters today she changed her own mind as she was ‘duly unimpressed’ that more local councils did not volunteer to set up their own inquiries when the option was offered.

Baroness Louise Casey told journalists in Westminster: ‘I think it would be a real shame if politicians from the opposition parties and people in wider society didn’t see that this is a chance to create a national reset, that the only thing that really matters is the protection of children.’ 

Setting out ‘next steps’, Ms Cooper told the Commons: ‘Baroness Casey’s first recommendation is we must see children as children. 

‘She concludes, too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13 to 15-year-old is perceived to have been in love with or had consented to sex with the perpetrator.

‘So, we will change the law to ensure that adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 face the most serious charge of rape, and we will work closely with the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) and the police to ensure there are safeguards for consensual teenage relationships.

‘We will change the law so that those convicted for child prostitution offences while their rapists got of scot-free will have their convictions disregarded and their criminal records expunged.’

Speaking in Canada, where he is attending the G7 summit, Sir Keir avoided addressing questions about whether he would apologise.

‘Well, grooming is a vile offence, absolutely vile, and I brought the first prosecution when I was chief prosecutor 15 years ago now. So I’ve seen the impact directly on victims,’ he said.

‘There have been a number of inquiries with very many recommendations. I took the view that we should implement those recommendations because they’ve been sitting on a shelf. Vitally important we do for things like mandatory reporting that we’ve already brought into place.

‘But as a safeguard, I asked Louise Casey to look again, do an audit to see if there’s anything that had been missed. She’s carried out that audit. She’s presented that to me. I’ve read it in full, and on the basis of what she’s found, she says there should be a National Inquiry.

‘I’ve looked at her report, I’ve considered that material. I think she’s right, and that’s why it’ll be a national inquiry. It will be a statutory inquiry. It will go wherever it needs to go.’

Lady Casey’s report said: ‘Instead of examining whether there is disproportionality in ethnicity or cultural factors at play in certain types of offending, we found many examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems. 

‘It is right for police forces and local authorities in particular to pay attention to potential impacts of any investigation on community cohesion, particularly given the history of riots and other disturbances based on racial tensions in many cities that happened in the early part of the 2000’s and subsequently.’

The report said: ‘The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more. 

Seven members of an Asian grooming gang, including(L-R) Kasir Bashir, Mohammed Shahzad and Roheez Khan are facing ‘lengthy’ prison sentences after they were convicted last week of the sexual exploitation of two white teenage schoolgirls in Rochdale.

Kemi Badenoch condemned ministers for taking so long to U-turn on a national inquiry

‘Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years. Child sexual exploitation is horrendous whoever commits it, but there have been enough convictions across the country of groups of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds to have warranted closer examination. 

‘Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation. In a vacuum, incomplete and unreliable data is used to suit the ends of those presenting it. 

‘The system claims there is an overwhelming problem with White perpetrators when that can’t be proved. 

‘This does no one any favours at all, and least of all those in the Asian, Pakistani or Muslim communities who needlessly suffer as those with malicious intent use this obfuscation to sow and spread hatred.’ 

In the Commons, the Home Secretary said ethnicity and nationality of suspects in child sexual abuse and exploitation cases will be recorded on a mandatory basis for the first time. Currently it is only noted for 37 per cent of suspects. 

Ms Cooper said: ‘Baroness Casey’s audit confirms that ethnicity data is not reported for two-thirds of grooming gang perpetrators, and she says it is not good enough to support any statements about the ethnicity of group-based child sexual exploitation offenders at the national level.

‘I agree with that conclusion. Frankly it is ridiculous and helps no-one that this basic information is not collected. Especially when there have been warnings and recommendations stretching back 13 years about the woefully inadequate data on perpetrators which prevents patterns of crime being understood and tackled.’

Ms Cooper added: ‘Baroness Casey’s review also identifies prosecutions and investigations into perpetrators who are white, British, European, African or Middle Eastern, just as Alexis Jay’s inquiry concluded that all ethnicities and communities were involved in appalling child abuse crimes.

‘So to provide accurate information to help tackle serious crimes, we will make it a formal requirement for the first time to collect both ethnicity and nationality data for all cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation, and we will commission new research into the cultural and social drivers of child sexual exploitation, misogyny and violence against women and girls.’

Ms Cooper said any asylum seekers found guilty of grooming children will have their applications rejected.

‘We will do everything in our power to remove them. I do not believe the law is strong enough, that we have inherited, so we are bringing forward a change to the law so that anyone convicted of sexual offences is excluded from the asylum system and denied refugee status,’ she said.

The Home Secretary warned of the changing nature of grooming, including online exploitation. She also warned of more rape and sexual crimes taking place in street and drugs gangs. Ms Cooper said: ‘I do not believe that this kind of exploitation has been sufficiently investigated.’

She added Baroness Casey’s review ‘describes the huge increase in online grooming and horrendous sexual exploitation and abuse, including the use of social media apps to build up relationships and lure children into physical abuse’.

‘The audit quotes one police expert, saying, if Rotherham were to happen again today it would start online.’

Closing her statement to the Commons, Ms Cooper said she had apologised while shadow home secretary in 2022 when Dame Alexis Jay’s report was published.

She told MPs: ‘On behalf of this, and past governments, and the many public authorities who let you down, I want to reiterate an unequivocal apology for the unimaginable pain and suffering that you have suffered, and the failure of our country’s institutions through decades, to prevent that harm and keep you safe.

‘But words are not enough. Victims and survivors need action. The reforms I’ve set out today will mean the strongest action any Government has taken to tackle child sexual exploitation, more police investigations, more arrests, a new inquiry, changes to the law to protect children, and a fundamental overhaul of how organisations work to support victims and put perpetrators behind bars.

‘But none of this will work unless everyone is part of it. Unless everyone works together to keep our children safe.’

Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘an extraordinary failure of leadership’.

She told the House: ‘His judgment has once again been found wanting. Since he became Prime Minister, he and the Home Secretary dismissed calls for an inquiry because they did not want to cause a stir.

‘They accused those of us demanding justice for the victims of this scandal as and I quote ‘jumping on a far right bandwagon’, a claim the Prime Minister’s official spokesman restated this weekend, shameful. It has been left to Conservatives time and time again to force this issue.’

A No10 spokesman said today: The prime minister’s comments about bandwagons were specifically about ministers from the previous government who sat in office for years and did nothing to tackle this scandal. As the prime minister has said, we will not make the same mistake.

‘The point the PM has made is that those spreading lies and misinformation were not doing so in the interest of victims. And those cheerleading for Tommy Robinson, who was jailed for almost collapsing a grooming case, are not interested in justice.’