Wigan Council votes in favour of national grooming gangs inquiry

Wigan Council has voted for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, breaking with the Labour Government’s official position.

The local authority, which is Labour-led, unanimously voted through a motion requesting that “a full national enquiry be undertaken into the grooming gangs.”

The motion said that the abuse had “destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of teenage girls,” adding that an inquiry would “provide justice for the young girls who have suffered and identify preventative measures moving forward”.

Independent Cllr. Maureen O’Bern raised the same motion on the atrocity on Wednesday night, but the Labour councillors left during her speech as time had apparently run out during the meeting.

In her speech, the independent politician said: “Only a statutory full national enquiry can get justice for those girls, and detect and punish the perpetrators and those who covered up for them.”

In remarks seen by GB News, Cllr. O’Bern read out the sentencing from 2013 describing the jailing of one of the Oxford abuse gangs.

After outlining the horrifying details in that case, which the judge said amounted to torture, the councillor said: “This is the truth about the grooming gangs, and why we need a full national enquiry.”

Local sources told the People’s Channel that Cllr. O’Bern was not permitted to reread her motion in the full council meeting on Friday as it was voted through.

The vote comes weeks after a parliamentary amendment from the Conservatives to set up a national inquiry into the scandal was voted down by 364 votes to 111 votes.

Before the vote on January 8, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that Labour risked fuelling accusations of “a cover-up” by rejecting the amendment.

The grooming gangs issue returned to national attention after GB News revealed that Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips had rejected a request from Oldham Council for a Government-led inquiry into the abuse gangs in the town.

Under significant pressure on the issue, the Government announced on January 16 that it would back five locally-led inquiries and conduct a rapid three-month audit of existing evidence, led by Baroness Louise Casey.