Grooming survivors say ministers trying to water down inquiry despite reassurances

Woman who quit panel says she was asked about broader approach', despite Shabana Mahmood's insistence focus will not change

Grooming gang victims have accused the UK government of attempting to manipulate them into broadening a national inquiry to include other forms of sexual abuse despite Shabana Mahmood's insistence the focus will not change.

They suspect that the government is attempting to deflect focus away from Labour-led councils, wishes to impose a government-friendly chair, and wishes to avoid raising questions over the ethnicity of the perpetrators, many of whom were men of Pakistani descent.