UK Formally Opens Grooming Gang Inquiry, Finally Examining Ethnicity and Culture

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has formally launched a national independent inquiry into organised grooming gangs, explicitly including how ethnicity, religion, and culture shaped these crimes. This reverses the government's earlier stance that the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse had already covered the ground. The terms of reference, published 18 June 2026, also mandate scrutiny of police, schools, and local authority failures. How the inquiry frames the ethnic dimension—as a feature of specific networks rather than an entire community—will determine whether findings become policy or political ammunition.