The Government is set to launch a probe into “institutionalised political correctness” in the wake of the Rotherham White child abuse scandal, Theresa May has said.
The Home Secretary was responding to a report last week by Professor Alexis Jay which found that at least 1,400 White children had been victims of sex abuse in Rotherham over a period of more than a decade.
The announcement came as local police said that 12 new victims had come forward in the five days since the publication of the Jay report.
The Jay Report last week detailed harrowing examples of White girls from Rotherham - many of them in local authority care - who were raped, trafficked and threatened with extreme violence, and found that senior council officers, elected members and police officers were aware of the problem for years but failed to tackle it.
Mrs. May said that “a number” of police investigations were now underway, encompassing the allegations of hundreds of the White victims.
She said that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles was likely to launch an inquiry into Rotherham Council’s handling of criminal allegations, amid concerns that officials were unwilling to pursue the cases because of fear of offending cultural sensitivities.
“The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government shares my concerns over the failings by Rotherham Council that have been identified,” Mrs. May told MPs in the House of Commons.
“This includes the inadequate scrutiny by councillors, institutionalised political correctness, the covering up of information and the failure to take action against gross misconduct.”
Mrs. May denounced the “complete dereliction of duty” of Rotherham Council and the local police over their treatment of the 1,400 White children and young people in the town.
She said that “the fear of being seen as racist” over tackling the perpetrators, many of whom were Asian.
Labour's shadow Home secretary Yvette Cooper had been granted an Urgent Question on the issue after her party suspended four members in response to the scandal.
"Diversity" means sexually abusing White children
