The British government announced Thursday a series of local investigations into old cases of rape and sexual exploitation of minors by criminal gangs, the handling of which by British authorities recently sparked fierce criticism from Elon Musk.
• Also read: Controversy with Musk: Keir Starmer promises to strengthen the protection of minors against sexual violence
Several cases shook different cities in England between the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2010s.
Gangs composed mainly of men from Pakistan attacked minors, mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In the town of Rotherham alone, in the north of England, nearly 1,500 minors were drugged, raped and sexually exploited by one of these gangs for sixteen years, between 1997 and 2013.
While the conservative opposition is calling for a national investigation, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper told MPs on Thursday that a plan of 10 million pounds (11.8 million euros) would be dedicated to local investigations into these gangs.
“Effective local investigations go into detail and provide more locally relevant answers and changes than a lengthy national investigation,” the minister said.
Yvette Cooper also ordered a three-month “rapid audit” into the current situation across the country.
This audit will study “cultural and societal factors” in child sexual exploitation cases. It will “appropriately examine the ethnic and demographic data of the gangs involved and their victims,” she added.
Conservative MP Chris Philp criticized the local investigations announced by Yvette Cooper, calling them “absolutely insufficient”.
The public authorities have been accused of not having taken stock of these cases, regularly used by the British far right to denounce two-tier justice.
And the government’s recent decision not to follow through on a request for a national inquiry into one of these cases has sparked further attacks.
Billionaire Elon Musk, close to US President-elect Donald Trump, took up this case in early January to accuse Keir Starmer, who was head of the prosecution of England and Wales between 2008 and 2013, of having left “gangs of rapists exploiting young girls without having to face justice”.
The Labor government said it was committed to implementing the recommendations of a previous national public inquiry into the matter, pointing out that the Conservatives had failed to do so when in power.
