GB News led the way on grooming gangs and now the establishment is finally joining the dots

All three of these areas were vital for inclusion. It was Oldham that helped to spark the overdue refocus on the gangs when GB News revealed that the Government had rejected the town’s request for an inquiry on New Year’s Day in 2025.

Now it will get one with statutory powers. The previous investigation did not have the confidence of survivors, who continued their campaign for further focus after over two decades of concerns being raised.

Barrister Tom Crowther, who was meant to lead the previous local inquiry, told me he was worried that it would not get into the deep, granular detail required, but the inquiry panellists insisted that their approach would achieve what was necessary.

Bradford is ground-zero for the gangs. It is here that we have seen countless victims being trafficked from across the country, with the highly organised Pakistani drug mobs controlling and expanding their reach throughout the region and then the rest of Britain. It is in Bradford that the investigators will surely find ceaseless rot.

Tory MP Robbie Moore was ecstatic with joy when I told him the news just after midnight last night. He has fought for this for years. More reserved was survivor Fiona Goddard. While elated to finally have the focus that Bradford needs, Fiona recognises that there is a long battle to come.

Meanwhile, solicitor David Greenwood's reaction was robust: This was a dark day for the people who had resisted an inquiry in the city because they "wanted to avoid the deep embarrassment and shame it will generate".

They, too, will be feeling that jolt of incoming accountability today.

London is more complex. The demographics and vastness of the capital will reveal a unique web of overlapping abuse networks. But it is clear that the grooming gangs model seen across the country has also been replicated in London.

The Metropolitan Police has already confirmed it is looking at dozens of cases. Whether London was affected created an unholy row in the London Assembly last year between Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and the Conservative Party's City Hall leader, Susan Hall.

The Conservative now has the probe she demanded. And the truth will come.

Speaking to me in central London today, the three panellists said they were hunting for the "killer questions" to ensure they uncover the truth and reveal who is responsible for failures.

There will also be national accountability hearings taking place alongside the local probes to uncover failures at Central Government, an announcement that will surely send a jolt of nervousness into Whitehall.

Unlike the independent inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which was published in 2022, this inquiry will focus solely on grooming gangs.

It will also look back at past failures that have been identified in towns that have been subjected to previous reviews. Unlike every other form of abuse it assessed, IICSA cowardly avoided the whole issue by declining to “look back” on the grooming gangs.

This inquiry team says they will make up for those mistakes by assessing the 800 recommendations made in Telford, Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and other towns and cities affected by the crisis. Billingham was clear: this inquiry has to be the last one. The cycle of reviews and reports has to end here.

They told me that this work could include speaking to perpetrators as part of the inquiry’s work to understand what caused this abuse.

Panellist Eleanor Kelly also made clear that today’s announcement is just the start. Other areas are set to be included in the inquiry, and Kelly signalled that Hull — where two police investigations have been opened and then collapsed — would be an area of focus, particularly on decisions made by the CPS.

It was particularly welcome to hear from people with the power to make a difference talking about the linked towns, the trafficking of victims from “hubs” such as Bradford and London, and the awareness that these abuse gangs have been highly organised and determined in their abuse.

It is clear that the inquiry team recognises the need to “join the dots” and prosecute the national links that have sustained the abuse gangs.

While listening to the inquiry team outline these concerns, I found myself thinking: “Have you been watching GB News?”

Zoe Billingham told me that the team’s starting point was that there had been a “catastrophic failure” by the state to confront the gangs. She stressed that this meant that they did not expect anyone to immediately trust the independent inquiry when it comes to gathering evidence and providing testimony.

But soon that is what victims and survivors and their families and other interested parties, including the campaigning lawyers who have fought for them for years, will be able to do.

The criteria for selecting new areas includes media exposure and public concern, making the work of outlets like GB News especially important in outlining where this crisis exists.

The People’s Channel has led the way in examining the national networks and revealing new towns and cities affected by the scourge. Giving victims the confidence to come forward and share their experiences will be critical to getting these investigations over the line.

But trust will only be achieved through one thing: action.

If these three women can prove to the thousands of victims across the country that they mean business and will hold people to account, they will surely be inundated with fresh leads to follow.