MPs demand urgent action on London grooming gangs

The government's inquiry into grooming gangs "must look specifically at London as part of its local investigations", according to a group of MPs.

In a letter seen by the BBC, eight Conservative MPs and three London Assembly members are demanding "urgent action" from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan.

The MPs include the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, and the former leader of the Conservative Party, Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

The letter follows a BBC News investigation last month, which exposed how vulnerable girls as young as 14 were being lured into forced sex by gangs in the capital.

"Survivors told the BBC they had been raped by several men as payment for unpaid drug debts by the gangs that controlled them, while others said they had been groomed for sex," the letter says.

"We are horrified by these reports. The report lays bare the failings of the authorities in London to tackle the grooming gangs we have seen operating all over the country."

The government has announced there will be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, covering England and Wales.

It is expected to include new local investigations, which will take place even if local authorities do not want one. But it is not clear where those inquiries will be.

The signatories want one of those local inquiries to be about London, and are calling on the Metropolitan Police to "set up a specific unit to look at these cases and bring these disgusting grooming gangs to justice".

In response to the letter, a Home Office spokesperson said: "The local areas to be examined by the inquiry will be selected by the chair in due course.

"Sexual and criminal abuse of children by gangs, whenever they occur, are among the most horrific crimes imaginable."

The national inquiry's final terms of reference are expected to be published by 31 March, when it will be formally established. Former children's commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield will chair the inquiry.

It was established in response to recommendations made by Baroness Louise Casey in her national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse published in June 2025.

Public attention on grooming gangs has often centred on the north of England, but last month's BBC investigation revealed a complex picture in London, with gangs from a range of ethnic backgrounds, including white, operating widely in the capital and frequently exploiting young women.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: "Such cases are already investigated by specialist officers with expertise in sexual offences and safeguarding.

"As part of the national re-investigation recommended by Baroness Casey, we also have a dedicated unit reviewing around 12,000 child sexual exploitation cases from a 15-year period.

"Work is ongoing to further strengthen our specialist response - training over 11,000 frontline officers."

About 2,000 child exploitation cases are reported to the Met every year. These relate to child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, or cases where both forms of harm were present.

A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq said: "The mayor is clear that the Met Police must follow the evidence wherever it leads and he will continue to ensure it does everything possible to tackle all child sexual exploitation in the capital, including grooming gangs, to build a safer London for everyone."