Chris Graham
PA MediaThe government is under increasing pressure to gain control of the grooming gangs inquiry after abuse survivors who quit their roles in the process listed conditions for their return.
Top of the demands – published in a joint letter to the home secretary – was the resignation of Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, who the four women accuse of “betrayal” citing her response to their concerns about the inquiry’s scope.
They said Phillips had lost survivors’ trust and that she, as well as the chair candidates, were unfit for their roles. Her exit would mean the government was “serious about accountability”, they added.
Home Office sources insist Phillips has the Home Secretary’s full support.
The letter came hours after former senior police officer Jim Gamble ruled himself out of chairing the inquiry, saying focus on political “point-scoring” had created a “highly charged and toxic environment”.
He was the last significant candidate after Annie Hudson, who has a background in social work, withdrew earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, Jess, which is not her real name, joined Fiona Goddard, Ellie Reynolds and Elizabeth, also not her real name, in standing down from the survivors’ panel.
They raised concerns that those being lined up to lead the inquiry had backgrounds in either policing or social work, citing the failures of those services to bring their abusers to justice.
They also said the inquiry was being widened “in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse”.
Phillips has said it is “untrue” the government is seeking to dilute the focus of the inquiry, insisting its scope will be “laser-focused”.
In a joint letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, posted on X by Ms Reynolds, they criticise Phillips for rejecting their accounts of concerns about the inquiry’s direction.
“Being publicly contradicted and dismissed by a government minister when you are a survivor telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again. It is a betrayal that has destroyed what little trust remained,” they said.
Their letter lists five demands before they would consider returning to the panel.
Among them is keeping the probe focused on grooming gangs and group child exploitation, as Baroness Louise Casey – whose report recommended a statutory inquiry – advised. They also want a senior or former judge to chair the inquiry, and to have a say in their selection.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in June there would be a national inquiry into grooming gangs covering England and Wales, with a panel of survivors set up to oversee the process. However, a chairperson has yet to be appointed.
Not all the survivors on the oversight panel agree with the four women; many continue to support the government’s approach.
The BBC spoke to two of those women.
Samantha Walker-Roberts, from Oldham, wants the scope of the inquiry to include victims of other types of sexual abuse, so they are not “silenced”.
She was the victim of a grooming gang when she was 12 – but she was also raped and abused by a man who groomed her online, and as a younger child she was raped and abused by older men who she met through friends.
Ms Walker-Roberts said: “This is a one-of-a-kind type of inquiry where survivors are in control and it’s wrong that certain survivors get special treatment to be part of this.”
She added she had no problem with a chair who had a background in policing or social work, as this had been “proven” to work with previous reviews.
Another supporter of the inquiry is Carly, from Huddersfield, who said she believes “the most effective way to drive meaningful change is from within” and remains “hopeful” the concerns raised by others “will lead to constructive improvements”.
Maggie Oliver, a police whistleblower and child protection campaigner, echoed survivors’ criticism of Phillips on Wednesday night, but also criticised the government’s handling of the inquiry.
She told Newsnight that the prime minister was “dragged kicking and screaming” into announcing the inquiry.
“We shouldn’t be fighting a battle with the government,” she said. “The inquiry is being led, or has been led, by a government that really doesn’t want it to work.”
Ms Oliver also raised concerns about transparency and survivor involvement: “We want a judge-led inquiry… I want it to be open and to involve all survivors and victims who want to be involved, not just a cherry-picked selection of a few.”
On Wednesday night, the Home Office reiterated its commitment to “a full, statutory, national inquiry to uncover the truth”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch joined calls for Phillips to be sacked, saying the inquiry is about “Labour failure”.
She said: “Labour never wanted this inquiry, we demanded it… It is Labour ministers attacking the victims. We’re standing up for them.”
Speaking at PMQs on Wednesday, the prime minister defended Phillips, saying she “has probably more experience than any other person in this House in dealing with violence against women and girls”.
He said “survivors have been ignored for many years” by the state and he wanted the inquiry to change that, adding “injustice will have no place to hide.”
He invited those that have quit the inquiry to re-join, but added that whether they did or not “we owe it to them” to answer their concerns.
“The inquiry is not and will never be watered down. Its scope will not change. It will examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders and we will find the right person to chair the inquiry,” he told MPs.
The prime minister also announced Baroness Casey was being drafted in to support the work of the inquiry.
Baroness Casey previously led a “national audit” of group-based child sexual exploitation that found the ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs had been “shied away from” by authorities.
Her findings, published in June 2025, prompted Sir Keir to order the creation of the national inquiry.
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