Quoting the survivors’ concerns, Badenoch told Sir Keir they believe the inquiry would “downplay the racial and religious motivations behind their abuse” and asked “aren’t the victims right when they call it a cover-up?”
Sir Keir said “survivors have been ignored for many years” by the state and he wanted the inquiry to change that. adding “injustice will have no place to hide” and that Dame Louise Casey – whose report recommended a statutory inquiry – will now be working with it.
He invited those that have quit the inquiry to rejoin it, but added that whether they did or not “we owe it to them” to answer their concerns.
“The inquiry is not and will never be watered down. Its scope will not change. It will examine the ethnicity and religion of the offenders and we will find the right person to chair the inquiry,” he told MPs.
Badenoch went on to accuse the government of waging a “briefing war against survivors” and called for Safeguarding MinisterJess Phillips to be sacked.
She said: “Yesterday, the safeguarding minister said Elizabeth was wrong. Who should we believe? the prime minister’s safeguarding minister or Elizabeth?”
Sir Keir responded: “What we’re trying to do is get this right and have an inquiry with survivors at the heart.”
He said it was not an easy process, as “they’ve all come with difficult experiences, with a wide range of views, and every survivor does bring their own painful experience to this” but he added: “I want to press on and get this right.”
The national inquiry into grooming gangs was announced by Sir Keir in June, with powers to compel witnesses and a panel of survivors set up to oversee the process.
The terms of the inquiry are still being worked out but the government says it is close to selecting someone to chair it.
One potential chair, Annie Hudson, withdrew her nomination earlier this week when fears were raised that her social worker background could be a conflict of interest, but another nominee, Jim Gamble, a former police chief and child abuse expert, met survivors on Tuesday.
There are thought to be two panels and about 20 survivors involved in total.
Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds quit the panels on Monday, followed by Elizabeth on Tuesday and now Jess, her lawyer Amy Clowrey confirmed.
Jess, who was groomed between the ages of 12-17, told GB News, external: “When I found out the two potential chairs were a former police officer and a former social worker, I was shocked and I didn’t know how they could be involved.
“They were both part of a profession that failed all of us.”
Another survivor, Elizabeth, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she was worried officials kept trying to dilute the inquiry by broadening its scope to wider issues of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
“We don’t want it widening,” she said. “We want it to be on grooming gangs – we want our voice.”
