Shadow home secretary says authorities 'covered up' grooming gangs

 Shadow home secretary says authorities 'covered up' grooming gangs

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp says it is "critical" to get to the truth about police forces and local authorities' involvement in grooming gangs.

"They deliberately covered up these appalling crimes, the rape of young girls, predominantly those from vulnerable backgrounds," he tells BBC Breakfast.

He adds that authorities covered up these crimes because they were "more interested in race relations, than they were in protecting young girls".

Philip says Prime Minister Keir Starmer only announced the national inquiry into grooming gangs because the government had been "forced" to due to the Casey report being published.

Starmer told reporters at the weekend: "I've never said we should not look again at any issue." He added that Baroness Casey had originally thought a new inquiry was not necessary, but she had changed her mind having looked into it in recent months.