“This wasn’t a failure of information — it was a failure of will.” Those words, spoken by Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe during the official launch of his £600,000 privately funded rape gang inquiry, have set the tone for what promises to be one of the most explosive investigations into Britain’s grooming gang scandals in years. The inquiry, which began formally this week, aims to examine decades of institutional failure that allowed organised groups to sexually exploit thousands of vulnerable girls across towns and cities, many of them in the North and Midlands. Repeated alerts from whistleblowers, teachers, social workers and victims themselves were dismissed, reports were buried, investigations stalled, and perpetrators were often left free to continue offending. Lowe’s probe, independent of government and police, has already begun hearing from survivors, former officers, and local councillors who claim they were silenced or sidelined.

The scale of the scandal is staggering. Official figures from the Home Office and independent inquiries (Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford, Oldham, Newcastle, Rotherham again) estimate at least 19,000 known victims between 1997 and 2017, with many experts believing the true number is far higher. Grooming gangs, predominantly made up of men of Pakistani heritage in the most high-profile cases, targeted girls as young as 11, using drugs, alcohol, threats, and violence to coerce them into sexual exploitation. Yet time and again, authorities failed to act decisively. Police dismissed victims as “prostitutes” or “making lifestyle choices”; social services feared being labelled racist; council officials worried about “community tensions.” The result: a systemic refusal to connect the dots, even when patterns were glaring.

Lowe’s inquiry, funded through public donations and his own resources, is not constrained by the same political sensitivities. “We have the evidence,” he said in his opening remarks. “We have witness statements, leaked documents, whistleblower accounts, and survivor testimony that was ignored or disbelieved. This inquiry will ask the questions that should have been asked 20 years ago: Who knew? Who covered it up? And why were the warnings ignored?” Early sessions have already heard from former police officers who claim they were told to “back off” certain investigations to avoid “racial tensions,” and from survivors who say they were threatened or disbelieved when they first came forward.

The inquiry has divided opinion. Supporters, including many survivors and campaigners, praise Lowe for his willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. “Finally someone is listening,” said one Rotherham survivor who gave evidence this week. Critics, including Labour MPs and some Muslim community leaders, accuse the MP of politicising trauma and risking community relations. “This is not about justice — it’s about Reform UK scoring points,” Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in response.

Yet the evidence is mounting. Leaked internal reports, whistleblower testimonies, and survivor statements already point to a pattern of institutional cowardice. In one case from Oldham, a 2011 report warning of widespread grooming was shelved; in Telford, police allegedly failed to act on multiple reports of abuse spanning 40 years. Lowe has promised to publish interim findings early in 2026, with a full report expected by the end of the year.

For the survivors, the inquiry is long overdue. Many have waited decades for acknowledgment and accountability. “We were children,” one woman told the panel. “They knew, and they did nothing.” As the hearings continue, the question is no longer whether the evidence existed — it’s why it was ignored for so long.

Britain is watching. And this time, silence is not an option.