Bradley has signed a cross-party letter to the Prime Minister demanding victims and survivors are ‘at the heart of the’ National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs.
The local MP previously voted for a national inquiry and was one of the signatories to the amendment which made the vote possible.
However, the Government used its majority to block an inquiry. The Prime Minister later U-turned and a National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs was announced.
Now Bradley has signed a cross-party letter, led by Robbie Moore MP, which demands the inquiry must be survivor-led in its design, scope and delivery.
The letter also sets out three clear principles that Bradley and the co-signatories believe the inquiry must follow. This includes continued prosecutions of the perpetrators, an independent, survivor trusted mechanism to ensure survivors can come forward safely and demands survivors have formal, meaningful roles in shaping the inquiry’s work.
Bradley said:
“The National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs must get to the truth about the extent of the abuse and any cover-up, and it must go further than previous inquiries.
“For this to happen, it’s vital that the Government puts victims and survivors at the heart of the national rape gangs inquiry. The Government can do this by ensuring perpetrators continue to be prosecuted, ensuring survivors feel safe to come forward and by giving survivors formal, meaningful roles in shaping the inquiry’s work.
“The British state failed the victims of these sickening crimes. We need to examine the failings among police, prosecutors, charities, academics, local and national government, consider the racial and cultural backgrounds of the perpetrators and how that contributed to these crimes, identify those public servants who facilitated or ignored this abuse so they can be removed from their roles and any foreign nationals involved in the abuse must also be deported.
“Justice must be done, and the truth must out.”
