HOME secretary Sajid Javid has said Pakistani members of grooming gangs have “disgraced our heritage” and that there “must be some cultural connection” to their crimes.
In an interview in The Times, Javid said: “It makes me feel angry . . . how they’ve disgraced our heritage . . . [There] must be some cultural connection, some reason.”
Javid drew criticism for his reaction to the jailing of 20 men in Huddersfield for drugging, trafficking and raping vulnerable girls.
“These sick Asian paedophiles are finally facing justice,” Javid tweeted last week. “There will be no no-go areas.”
He was called out for drawing attention to the ethnicity of the gang.
Labour MP David Lammy said Javid’s tweet could result in ethnic minorities being targeted.
“Sajid Javid has brought a great office of state into disrepute,” Lammy said, according to The Guardian. “By singling out ‘Asians’ he not only panders to the far right but increases the risk of violence and abuse against minorities across the country.
“Whatever the underlying motives of the offenders involved, paedophilia is an abhorrent crime that affects all communities. It does no service to the victims of this evil to pin the blame on any one group.”
Diane Abbot, the shadow home secretary, said attributing these crimes to one ethnic community does nothing to support the vulnerable victims who fell prey to these grooming gangs.
“The only universal facts are that the scale of sexual abuse in this country is staggering, the needs of these vulnerable women and girls are repeatedly ignored and this government is simply not doing enough to combat it,” said Abbot.
