‘This motion will hopefully begin the process to get the girls in this city the justice they deserve,’ said Cllr Duncan Graham (Reform UK – Marfleet), as he made the proposal
Baroness Anne Longfield, pictured, is the chair of the independent inquiry into grooming gangs and will be written to by the council leader to request Hull’s inclusion as a Local Area Investigation(Image: Russell Sach/Children’s Commissioner for England/PA Wire)
Hull councillors have united in a call for the city to be an area of focus in the national Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs. A Reform UK proposal on the issue received cross-party support at July’s full council meeting.
Council leader Cllr Mike Ross (Liberal Democrat – Beverley and Newland Ward) will write to its chair, Baroness Anne Longfield to request Hull’s inclusion as a Local Area Investigation, with the letter open to being signed by the council’s other political group leaders. Geographical areas already with such a special focus include Oldham and Keighley.
The designation would mean greater independent scrutiny of any local bodies’ failings of victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation in Hull. The proposal has also committed to a council report at a scrutiny committee on how Hull tackles child sexual exploitation today.
“This motion will hopefully begin the process to get the girls in this city the justice they deserve,” said Cllr Duncan Graham (Reform UK – Marfleet), proposing it. “I acknowledge that the city council is already cooperating with the inquiry and I commend both the officers and the leader for being resolute in their determination on this.” However, he added: “I do think we need to go further and push explicitly that Hull is included in the Local Area Investigations to ensure the girls of Hull receive the justice they deserve.”
Reacting to his motion getting unanimous support, Cllr Graham said he was glad councillors had come together and backed it. “These children found the courage to come forward, they told people in positions of trust about the abuse they had suffered, and the system that was supposed to protect them failed them.”
He added: “I hope that the information this council is providing leads the inquiry to choose Hull as a local area investigation, because these women have waited ten years and two failed police investigations for the truth, and they deserve it.”
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‘These girls were failed twice’
Cllr Graham laid out how Hull met the criteria to be a Local Area Investigation. For evidence of the experience of victims and survivors, he cited survivors’ testimony to Sky News, and highlighting that harm is current, referenced last month’s conviction of three men for sexual exploitation of a teenage girl.
This followed an investigation by Humberside Police ‘s child sexual exploitation team. Cllr Graham also cited two Humberside Police investigations, Operation Marksman and more recently Operation Conference, as meeting the criteria of previous reviews and unresolved issues. Neither investigation has led to any convictions.
Cllr Lisa Graham (Reform UK – Newington and Gypsyville) seconded and cited Hull Daily Mail’s interviews with survivors from 2021 and 2022. She stated: “These girls were failed twice. Once by the men that abused them and second, by every part of the care system that was meant to protect them and that looked away instead. We must not fail them again.”
“By ensuring Hull is included in the inquiry we can stand up as a city together and we can say, ‘We believe you, we are sorry and we will help you find the truth.'”
Cross-party backing
Liberal Democrat Cllr Jack Haines (Boothferry) brought forward an amendment, accepted with no disagreement, which made clear the local authority is already cooperating with the inquiry. It also called on the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner and deputy to clarify their position on the matter, and for immediate work to fill vacancies in the council’s corporate parenting board.
This is a dedicated advisory body within the council that ensures it and its partners meet their legal responsibility to act as ‘good parents’ to children in care and care leavers. “It shows that on the issues that really do matter to people, politicians are capable of putting aside the minutiae of political parties and coming together to actually make a difference,” said Cllr Haines of the cross-party unity behind the proposal.
“To those who have suffered some of the most appalling crime imaginable, this council is united and sends a very clear and simple message: that we hear you,” he said, adding that councillors “know you deserve justice” and the council will support every effort throughout the process.
Labour opposition group leader Cllr Daren Hale (St Andrews and Docklands) led his party group’s support for the proposal. He hoped the inquiry “looks at the fact that the criminal burden of proof versus the civil burden of proof is difficult in this entire arena”.
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