'Labour has completely lost control!' Charlie Peters reacts to grooming gangs U-turn as he demands 'clarity' from Labour

'What is this?!' Charlie Peters reacts to grooming gangs U-turn as he demands 'clarity' from Labour
GB NEWS
Gabrielle Wilde

By Gabrielle Wilde


Published: 16/06/2025

- 17:54

The Government's dramatic U-turn follows Baroness Casey's review, which Cooper described as containing "damning" findings about institutional failures in addressing grooming gangs

GB News's National Reporter Charlie Peters has raised questions about "the clarity" of Labour's announcement on grooming gangs, pointing to confusion in the terminology used by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Speaking after Cooper's Commons statement, Charlie said: "There is a mixture of language in that statement from Yvette Cooper that I think needs clarifying.


"She says that Baroness Casey said that there should be a national commission with statutory powers, and then Yvette Cooper said we agree and will launch a national inquiry. So what is it? Is it a commission or an inquiry?"

The Government's U-turn follows Baroness Casey's review, which Cooper described as containing "damning" findings about institutional failures in addressing grooming gangs.

\u200bCharlie Peters

Charlie Peters demanded some clarity from the Government

GB NEWS


The report identified "deep-rooted failure to treat children as children", "denial" and "fragmentation", according to Cooper's Commons statement.

Significantly, Casey found that perpetrators of Asian heritage were "overrepresented" in cases, with the report suggesting institutions had "avoided the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist".

The GB News star, who has covered grooming gang cases for many years, added: "I think many survivors, their families, campaigners, and lawyers who are engaged in this process right around the country will have heard that use of language and will be asking the same question.

"If it is a commission that directs local inquiries with those investigative powers, those statutory powers, then that will be quite different from a national inquiry that could perhaps join the dots of this issue right around the country."

Reacting to the statement as a whole, Peters said: "I also thought that another key line from this that was particularly troubling was when she said that Baroness Casey reported that there were cases involving suspects who were asylum seekers.

"Now, we're also aware of cases of that nature. There are a couple in Oldham, that we have reported on previously, where people who, despite being asylum seekers, have actually left the country of their own accord. We believe they have self-reported themselves ahead of investigation.

"And we've also heard there that this issue will involve the immigration authorities looking at all asylum cases where there could be this allegation of abuse involved.

"That's really difficult for the Government to engage with politically as well because of course, as we're covering on the channel almost every single day now, the small boats crisis is getting out of hand.

"This Government has completely lost control of the borders. We've seen so many record days, our Homeland Security Editor, Mark White, breaking those lines of over 1,000 arrivals a day, so often reaching record levels of arrivals for this time this year.

"If the Government is producing a report that explicitly links concerns about asylum seekers and grooming gangs, that could add particular danger to their current policy of smashing the gangs when it comes to small boats migrants, because really, we can see that that is not working.

Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper outlined the report's findings

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"If the Government is producing a report that explicitly links concerns about asylum seekers and grooming gangs, that could add particular danger to their current policy of smashing the gangs when it comes to small boats migrants."

Peters also expressed scepticism about Cooper's call for unity, stating: "We do know that there are people in positions of authority right across the country who would rather not go there, who would rather not have thorough investigations into this crisis."

Cooper announced that more than 800 grooming gang cases have already been identified by police following her request to review cases that had closed prematurely.

"Now we are asking the National Crime Agency to lead a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators and bring them to justice," the Home Secretary told MPs.

WATCH IN FULL - Yvette Cooper announces full inquiry into Grooming Gangs

She revealed that victims as young as 10 had been identified in the audit, with children in care and those with learning or physical disabilities being specifically targeted.

Cooper said these children had been "plied with drugs and alcohol, brutally raped by gangs of men" and "disgracefully let down again and again by the authorities who were meant to protect them".

The Home Secretary also announced that all adults engaging in penetrative sex with under-16s would now face the most serious charges of rape.