In addition to using ethnicity data to improve police investigations, the Prime Minister is in northern England on Monday to introduce a new set of measures that they claim will safeguard girls and young women from sexual abuse.
The “vast majority” of sexual abuse cases do not include people of ethnic minorities, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer highlighted after Home Secretary Suella Braverman singled out British Pakistani men over worries about grooming gangs.
Her use of language drew criticism from some campaigners, and the NSPCC emphasised that focusing solely on race could lead to the formation of new “blind spots.”
Just over a month out from the May local elections, Mr. Sunak is setting out his party’s plans to be tough on crime while also trying to protect children from abuse.
The Prime Minister is launching a new task force in Leeds and Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where a grooming scandal was exposed in a high-profile case in 2012, and where specialised officers will support local police forces in solving child sexual exploitation cases.
It will be run by the police with assistance from the National Crime Agency, and its members will be police officers with “extensive experience” looking into grooming gangs.
Ministers will claim that this is necessary to make sure that “cultural sensitivities” are not employed to prevent criminals from being caught. The plan will also see ethnicity data used to help the police investigate grooming gangs.
Political correctness, according to Mr. Sunak, has stopped us for far too long from weeding out vile criminals who prey on children and young women.
“We will stop at nothing to stamp out these dangerous gangs,” he promised.
"The data shows that the vast majority of perpetrators in this area are white men under 30.. Why are you focusing on British Pakistani men when the data shows it's not actually how it pans out?"
Rishi Sunak joins Suella Braverman to divide the nation. pic.twitter.com/eEFomB5ko5
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) April 3, 2023