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Sir Keir Starmer has defended the grooming inquiry, saying “injustice will have no place to hide” and telling MPs Baroness Louise Casey will support its work. Challenged at Prime Minister’s Questions over the resignation of four women from the inquiry’s victims and survivors panel, Sir Keir said the “door will always be open” should they wish to return. He said: “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. “I can tell the house today, Mr Speaker, that Dame Louise Casey will now support the work of the inquiry, and it will get to the truth. Injustice will have no place to hide.” Baroness Casey, a former victims’ commissioner, previously led a “national audit” of group-based child sexual exploitation that found “many examples” of organisations shying away from discussion of “ethnicity or cultural factors” in such offences “for fear of appearing racist”. Her findings, published in June 2025, prompted Sir Keir to order the creation of the national inquiry. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement, the Home Office declined to say how Baroness Casey would be supporting the inquiry. His comments came in response to a question from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who asked on behalf of Fiona Goddard, one of the women who quit the panel: “Being dismissed and contradicted by a minister when you’re telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again. “Fiona’s question is simple: ‘What’s the point in speaking up if we’re just going to be called liars?’” Earlier, Cabinet minister Emma Reynolds had apologised to the survivors for the Government’s handling of the inquiry, saying she was “sorry if they felt let down by the process”. Two survivors, Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds, resigned on Monday citing concerns about a “toxic environment”, with two unnamed women following them on Tuesday. The women also expressed concerns over attempts to widen the scope of the inquiry, and the candidates being considered to chair the inquiry, one of whom was reportedly a former police chief and the other a social worker. Annie Hudson, a former director of children’s services for Lambeth, has now reportedly withdrawn her candidacy following recent media coverage. In an attempt to assuage concerns over the establishment of the inquiry, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood insisted on Tuesday night that its scope “will not change”. Ms Goddard told Times Radio on Wednesday that Ms Mahmood’s comments had been “reassuring”. But she reiterated her call for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to resign over her comments disputing the allegations that the inquiry was being watered down. She said: “My problem is there is little to no recognition of what Jess Phillips did today by nationally calling me a liar when she knew I was telling the truth. “I think that there needs to be an apology, swiftly followed by Jess Phillips’ resignation.” In the Commons on Wednesday, Sir Keir defended Ms Phillips, saying: “I respect the views of all the survivors, and there are different views, I accept that. “But the safeguarding minister, I think, has probably more experience than any other person in this House in dealing with violence against women and girls. “Alongside her will be Louise Casey. These two individuals have spent decades standing up for those who have been abused and sexually exploited, and I absolutely think they’re the right people to take this forward.” Baroness Casey’s appointment to assist the grooming gangs inquiry is the latest role for a woman who has acted as a government troubleshooter for much of the last three decades. Prior to her national audit earlier this year, she led efforts to tackle homelessness and anti-social behaviour under Sir Tony Blair’s government, became the country’s first victims’ commissioner in 2010, and carried out a review of standards in the Metropolitan Police following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer in 2021. Among other roles, she also conducted a review in 2014 of Rotherham Council’s children’s services following a separate inquiry into the local authority’s handling of child sexual abuse.
