WATCH: Heidi Alexander blasts Conservatives for taking 'zero action' on grooming gangs

GB News

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was fiercely grilled on GB News by host Ben Leo over Labour's national grooming gangs inquiry, as he questioned the true scale of the investigation.In a major U-turn by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a national statutory inquiry into the rape gangs scandal.FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00While we're talking, of course, about the grooming gang scandal, the Casey Report finally presented to Parliament yesterday.

00:06Let's speak to the government now, shall we, and the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, who joins us this morning.

00:11Good to see you, Heidi Alexander.

00:14Let's start, shall we, talking about the Sassel Inquiry, which you have launched,

00:19but only after the Prime Minister described it as a far-right bandwagon,

00:24and you've got the likes of Lucy Powell describing it as an issue which is a dog whistle,

00:28and also talking about a little trumpet as well.

00:31Do you have concerns that you've pushed away victims from engaging in this process,

00:36engaging with this national inquiry with your language?

00:42No, I think we've been clear that the most important thing for this government is the protection of vulnerable children,

00:49and we need to stamp out this vile crime that is being perpetrated by these grooming gangs.

00:55We're determined to do that, and we need to ensure justice for the victims who have endured being ignored for far too long.

01:05Now, this government has been in power for 11 months.

01:09This issue spans back many decades.

01:12The Conservative Party, who were in government for 14 years, had 20 months between the publication of the J-Report,

01:20which followed the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.

01:24There were a number of recommendations there.

01:26There were 20 months before the general election happened.

01:28They took precisely zero action.

01:32When we came in, we got on with implementing those recommendations from the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.

01:39The Home Secretary in January also ordered police forces across the country to reopen closed cases.

01:48And as a result of that, over 800 cases that relate to grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation have been reopened.

01:58Of course, the Prime Minister, in addition to those local reviews that were underway in some places,

02:04asked Baroness Louise Casey, who is an independent, very well-respected public servant,

02:09to do a national rapid audit of what evidence there was about whether there should be a national inquiry.

02:18Louise Casey herself, at the start of that process, said that she, at the beginning,

02:23didn't think that there was a need for one.

02:25She came to a different conclusion as she went around the country and collated evidence.

02:30She then made a recommendation to the Prime Minister in a report that she submitted about a week ago.

02:36Within days, the Prime Minister reviewed that report, read every page of it,

02:40and has said that he will be accepting all of the recommendations.

02:44And that's why you saw the Home Secretary stand up in the House of Commons yesterday

02:49and announce that we will take forward that national inquiry with the power to compel witnesses

02:54and compel evidence being provided so that once and for all we can stamp out these vile, heinous crimes.

03:02And I should just say, I don't care who is committing these crimes.

03:07I don't care what the colour of their skin is.

03:09They should be brought to justice and the victims should be listened to

03:14and should get the justice that they deserve.

03:17I would say, Secretary of State, that the colour of their skin and their ethnicity does matter

03:22because these white British girls were targeted specifically because of their race.

03:26So I would push back on that fact.

03:28Just in terms of the inquiry, it's been revealed that Whitehall, Parliament, politicians

03:36will be exempt from the inquiry.

03:38So in actual fact, it's not a full inquiry, is it?

03:40If we've got civil servants who won't be brought before a judge,

03:44that's not a full national inquiry, is it?

03:46Why is Whitehall excluded in this way?

03:52I've got to tell you, the line is really very difficult.

03:55And so I haven't heard in detail the question that you asked,

03:59but I think you were asking me whether this is a full national inquiry.

04:05I can tell you that it is being set up under the Inquiries Act.

04:09It will be a national inquiry with the ability to compel evidence from individuals and compel evidence being provided by organisations.

04:20It will sit alongside the local inquiries so that we can provide some oversight and overview to it.

04:28But it is going to be a national inquiry set up under the Inquiries Act.

04:33One of the things that Louise Casey did say, and I think she is right to say,

04:38is that when you think about the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse that took place under the last government,

04:45that took seven years.

04:47And I don't think anyone would suggest for one moment that we can wait another seven years to get to the bottom of this.

04:55And so we probably do need to operate it in a slightly different way.

04:59But there will be no stone left unturned in providing justice for the victims of these heinous and horrific crimes.

05:08And just very quickly on this, because I know we need to get on to what you're here to talk to us about today.

05:14But in terms of launch...

05:15Oh, she's gone, unfortunately.

05:19We'll endeavour to get her back.

05:20So we were going to be talking about the Transport Secretary has secured a major rail supply deal to protect thousands of British steel jobs.

05:27It's a £500 million rail contract.

05:29We'll give you some more details of that as the show goes on.

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