Sir Keir, who has repeatedly defended his role in the scandal, has been listed as a core participant.
Sir Keir Starmer will face questions over the grooming gang scandal (Image: Getty)
Former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will be summoned to give evidence to the national grooming gangs inquiry, it has emerged. Sir Keir, who has repeatedly defended his role in the scandal, has been listed as a core participant. The hearings will start with the experiences of victims and survivors. But the probe, led by Baroness Anne Longfield, will then examine institutional responses amid widespread fears of cover-ups.
A list published by the inquiry also reveals the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, will give evidence, as will Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Communities Secretary Angela Rayner and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper. The inquiry team said in a statement: “In awarding Core Participant status, the Chair of the Inquiry considers whether a person played, or may have played, a direct and significant role in relation to the matters to which the inquiry relates, whether they have a significant interest in an important aspect of the matters to which the inquiry relates, or whether the person may be subject to explicit or significant criticism during the inquiry proceedings or in the report, or in any interim report.”
Get the latest politics news – straight from our team in Westminster and more
Invalid email
You agree you are 18 or over. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. You can unsubscribe at any time. More Info.
It is expected that Sir Keir will give evidence in the second phase of the inquiry.
Other core participants include Greater Manchester Police whistleblower Maggie Oliver and Rotherham whistleblower Jayne Senior.
Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, Chair of the Inquiry, said: “Over many years, inquiries, reviews, inspections and investigations have identified serious failings in how children were protected from sexual exploitation by grooming gangs and made recommendations for change.
“Reviews have been held before. Reports have been written. Recommendations have been made. Yet victims and survivors tell us that too many of those recommendations did not result in meaningful change, lessons were not learned, and organisations are still failing to act.
“We are determined to establish the truth about these horrific crimes, understand why children were failed for so long, and ensure that those responsible for protecting them are held properly to account.
“These hearings are not simply about identifying what needs to change. They are about understanding why change did not always follow, who was responsible, and what must now happen to make sure these failures are not repeated.”
Zoë Billingham CBE, Panellist on the Inquiry, said: “For too long there has been a gap between what previous inquiries and reviews identified and what happened afterwards.
“These hearings will examine what action was taken, what progress was made, who was responsible for delivering change and why recommendations did not always result in meaningful improvements.”
Sir Keir faced fury from victims after a major Daily Express investigation revealed he oversaw the use of “paedophile Asbos” that allowed suspects to get off with a warning.
Our probe found documents from Sir Keir’s time as Britain’s top prosecutor describing how the CPS was “drafting and agreeing” warning notices with police chiefs that whistleblowers say have been given to suspected child rapists.
The warning notices were drawn up as part of the CPS’s national strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
But our investigation found that the “early intervention tool” was often used instead of evidence gathering and no research was ever conducted into their effectiveness.
The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs confirmed London, Oldham and Bradford and Keighley will be the first areas to face local investigations, following multiple Daily Express investigations.
The inquiry will explore “the wider network of grooming gangs across London’s satellite towns and cities”.
And it will focus on the capital’s role “in the national network of grooming gangs”. They admitted there needs to be an “early investigation” because London “has the highest rate of referrals for child sexual exploitation” in the country and extensive transport links.
Andy Burnham just hit Britain with a sneaky £30bn tax grab – BEFORE the Budget
Taxpayers are bracing themselves for yet another Labour tax raid in next week’s Budget. But latest figures show the Treasury is already collecting billions more.
The Budget isn’t even here yet and the tax take is rocketing (Image: Getty)
Taxpayers are being silently ripped off, and many don’t even realise it. HMRC’s latest figures, published yesterday, show total tax and National Insurance (NI) receipts hit a record £467.3billion between April and September. That’s £29.5billion more than in the same six months last year. That doesn’t mean Andy Burnham has personally imposed a £30billion tax hike. But it does show the scale of the rising burden tripping up taxpayers on his watch, even before Chancellor John Healey announces still more taxes in next week’s Budget.
The increase includes £17.8billion more from income tax, capital gains tax and NI, £3.8billion extra in VAT and £6.4billion more from business taxes. Some of this increase reflects rising wages, prices and business profits, rather than new tax rates. But taxpayers are still handing over more, as frozen tax thresholds help the Treasury take an ever bigger slice of our earnings. Over the full 2026/27 tax year, the total additional take is heading for a staggering £60billion. In just one year. Even in the unlikely event that Healey does nothing on October 28.
Former Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves raised taxes by an estimated £40billion in her first Budget and £26billion in her second, targeting employers’ NI, farmers and small businesses, but also our pensions, savings, capital gains, investments and inheritances. Those changes have only just started feeding into receipts, and their impact will grow because some of her levies haven’t even come into force yet.
Labour’s manifesto promised not to increase the headline rates of income tax, NI and VAT. Yet Reeves still hiked employers’ NI and extended the income tax threshold freeze, originally introduced by the Conservatives, through to 2031.
As wages rise but tax thresholds don’t, more people are dragged into paying income tax while existing taxpayers are pushed into higher bands, through a sneaky sleight of hand known as fiscal drag. Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, said: “This happens without any change to the headline rates of income tax and shows just how effective fiscal drag has become as a revenue raiser for the Treasury.”
Pensioners are paying the price, too. A record 9.6million now pay income tax, and their numbers will climb again next April, when the new state pension rises above the £12,570 personal allowance.
Despite all this extra money, the government still borrowed a staggering £21.2billion borrowed in September alone while the national debt hit £3trillion for the first time ever. We could end up borrowing another £150billion over the year, yet Labour refuses to cut spending. Burnham talks endlessly about the cost-of-living crisis while ignoring how taxes are making people poorer, too.
Worse, several of Reeves’s changes have yet to come into force, including plans to bring unused pension funds into the inheritance tax net next April. Her 2% surcharge on savings interest and rental income are also due next April. The mansion tax and per-per-mile have still to take effect. Reeves’s pensions salary-sacrifice raid starts in 2029.
Tory or Labour, governments have become adept at raising taxes without the chancellor of the day announcing anything, thanks to fiscal drag. To take just one example, the £325,000 inheritance tax nil-rate band hasn’t increased since 2009. NFU Mutual says it would now be £532,500 if it had kept pace with inflation. The £3,000 annual IHT gifting allowance has been frozen since 1981. What a total con. They’re taking us all for mugs.
Healey may yet announce more tax increases next Wednesday. But even if he doesn’t, the tax burden is already rocketing and we’re all poorer as a result. Remember that when the Budget arrives. You’ll be paying more, whatever the Chancellor says or does.