Where Naresh is Nash

Sir Keir Starmer was never keen on an inquiry specifically on Pakistani grooming gangs. The prime minister wants to be protective of the wider Pakistani community in the UK. The last thing he wants is an Islamophobic report which states that for cultural and religious reasons, Muslim Pakistan men have been targeting vulnerable white children and young women. But this is precisely the conclusion that some of the survivors and other groups want.

The Labour leadership was already in trouble with some Pakistani voters who felt it was not sufficiently critical of Israel’s military approach in the Gaza war. Starmer would not want to alienate them further with a report that picks out only Pakistanis when it comes to sexual abuse. It would be preferable to have a report that acknowledges that while there has been an historic problem with Pakistani grooming gangs in places such as Rotherham and Rochdale, white men are involved, too, in bigger numbers across the UK as a whole.