Nigel Farage has slammed the grooming gang scandal as one of the “greatest evils that has ever happened to our country”.
The Reform UK leader insisted that “we deserve to know the truth” while speaking to party members at a regional conference in Surrey on Friday.
He said: “It’s been going on for decades but because of the two-tier approach that we take in Britain – two-tier policing, two-tier justice – we treat some communities very differently to other communities.”
He added: “Don’t we deserve to know the extent of this across our country? Don’t we deserve to know how long it’s been going on? Don’t we deserve to know how many of those young women have been abused?
“Don’t we deserve, just as importantly, to find out who the guilty men and women are who perpetrated a cover-up for what I think is one of the greatest evils that has ever happened in our country?”
Mr Farage’s party has insisted it will launch an inquiry into the scandal if Sir Keir does not do so by the end of this month.
This comes amid a row between the Prime Minister and tech billionaire Elon Musk over the UK’s handling of the issue.
Mr Farage said: “If Starmer won’t do it – and I’ll give him to the end of the month – if Starmer won’t do it, I will raise the money and we will hold that full public inquiry.”
Ministers have said their priority is acting on the 2022 recommendations of a seven-year inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay into child sexual abuse, which have not yet been implemented.