The prime minister has announced there will be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.

Sir Keir Starmer said he had accepted the recommendations of an audit by Baroness Louise Casey into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.

Baroness Casey has recommended a national inquiry is required, he said. The inquiry will cover England and Wales.

For months, Sir Keir has faced criticism for not being willing to set one up.

At the start of the year, the government dismissed calls for a national inquiry, arguing it had already been examined in a seven–year inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay.

But speaking to reporters on his way to the G7 summit, which begins in Canada tomorrow, the prime minister said: “I’ve never said we should not look again at any issue.”

He added that Baroness Casey had originally thought a new inquiry was not necessary, but she had changed her mind having looked into it in recent months.

“She’s come to the view there should be a national inquiry on the basis of what she’s seen,” Sir Keir said.

“I’ve read every single word of her report, and I’m going to accept her recommendation.

“I think that’s the right thing to do, on the basis of what she has put in her audit.

“I asked her to do that job, to double-check on this.

“She’s done that job for me, and having read her report… I shall now implement her recommendation.”

He added that it “will take a bit of time” to set up the inquiry, but added that “it will be statutory under the Inquiries Act”.

This means the inquiry will be able to compel witnesses to provide evidence.

A senior government source said the inquiry would “co-ordinate a series of targeted local investigations”.

This will include new local investigations, which will take place even if local authorities don’t want one.

The local investigations will have the power to compel evidence to be given and witnesses to appear.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to make a statement in the Commons on Monday, and Baroness Casey’s report will be published alongside this.

The grooming gangs issue was thrust into the spotlight at the start of this year, fuelled partly by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who criticised the prime minister for not calling a national inquiry.

A row between the two centred on high-profile cases where groups of men, mainly of Pakistani descent, were convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly young white girls in towns such as Rotherham and Rochdale.

In January, the government stopped short of launching a statutory national inquiry into grooming gangs, despite the idea receiving support from some Labour MPs.

Instead, Cooper announced a “rapid” three-month audit, led by Baroness Casey, into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.

Cooper said the review would include examining the demographics of the gangs and their victims, as well as “cultural drivers” behind the offending.

The home secretary also unveiled plans for five government-backed local inquiries – to be held in Oldham and four other areas yet to be named.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme on Sunday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves was asked if the prime minister had been wrong to dismiss the idea of a national inquiry into grooming gangs.

“We’ve never dismissed the concerns of victims,” Reeves said. “These are the most important people in those discussions.”

When asked if the PM had changed his mind, Reeves said Starmer had “always been really focused on the victims and not grandstanding but actually doing the practical things to ensure something like this never happens again”.

Baroness Casey’s review, which began in January, was due to take three months and had been delayed.

Earlier this month, Home Office Minister Jess Phillips apologised for the delay, saying Baroness Casey had requested a “short extension” and that the report was expected “very shortly”.

The Conservatives have long been calling for a nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs, with the power to compel people to give evidence.

Reacting to Saturday’s announcement, the party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, said: “Keir Starmer doesn’t know what he thinks unless an official report has told him so.

“Just like he dismissed concerns about the winter fuel payment and then had to U-turn.

“I’ve been repeatedly calling for a full national inquiry since January.

“It’s about time he recognised he made a mistake and apologise for six wasted months.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the decision “a welcome U-turn”.

In a post on X, Farage wrote: “A full statutory enquiry, done correctly, will expose the multiple failings of the British establishment. I repeat the words ‘done correctly’ – this cannot be a whitewash.

“It’s time for victims to receive the justice they deserve and for perpetrators to face the full force of the law.”

Former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe said on X that “none of this” would have happened without Elon Musk, writing: “No inquiry, no justice, nothing.”

“He [Musk] deserves huge credit for that,” Lowe added.

Musk replied with a heart emoji.