Grooming gangs don't just come from 'one ethnicity', conservatives warn

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Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman have been warned that sexual predators do not just come from "one origin" and that it would be "very dangerous to focus solely on the ethnicity or race".< /p>

The warning from Labour, the NSPCC and top academics came after the Home Secretary named British-Pakistani men as a major source of concern as the government reveals a series of measures to combat grooming gangs.

Mr. Sunak promised that "political correctness" on ethnicity would not prevent a crackdown on grooming gangs, as he promised tougher sentences and a new police task force.

Ms Braverman has come under fire after claiming "the perpetrators are groups of men, almost all British Pakistanis", repeatedly alluding to high profile cases in Rotherham and Rochdale.

But Sabah Kaiser - the ethnic minorities ambassador for the Independent Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry - told BBC Radio 4 that it was "very, very dangerous for the government to turn child sexual abuse into a matter of colour".

Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, also told the BBC Breakfast that the perpetrators "do not come from one single background" - warning the government that it was "really important that in raising an issue like race we didn't create other blind spots".

A The Home Office's 2020 report found that the group sex offenders are "most often white" - concluding that there was no evidence that any ethnic group was overrepresented in child sexual abuse cases.

Mr Leader unionist Keir Starmer said political correctness should not "hinder" the pursuit of grooming gangs - but also warned of the danger of focusing solely on ethnicity.

He said to LBC: "The vast majority of sexual abuse cases don't involve those of ethnic minorities and so I'm all for cracking down on any type of case, but if we're going to be serious we have to be honest about forgetting.

The Labor leader later told broadcasters: “Ethnicity matters and nothing should stand in the way of investigating and prosecuting the sexual exploitation of children. But if you look at the overall figure, it's, you know, a relatively small piece of it.

On Mrs. Braverman's plans for a legal obligation...