Minister: Political correctness means child sex grooming goes ‘under the radar’

Tim Loughton also believes “closed communities” have hampered investigations into abuse.

The children’s minister said he wanted to send out a message “loud and clear” that the minority ethnic “tag” should not deter officials from carrying out tough investigations into sexual exploitation.

In an interview with the BBC Politics Show in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, which will be broadcast on Sunday, he said: “In many cases we are dealing with some closed communities.

“Closed in terms of things being able to go on under the radar and away from the public glare.”

Mr Loughton acknowledged that child grooming was not a problem exclusively associated with one particular community, but added: “I think that political correctness and racial sensitivities have in the past been an issue.

“I want to send out a message loud and clear that although we have to be aware of certain characteristics of various ethnic communities and be sensitive as to how we deal with them, a BME (Black Minority Ethnic) tag is not an excuse for us not to investigate vigorously any abuse that may be going on.”

Earlier this year, former Justice Secretary Jack Straw was threatened with legal action after claiming some men of Pakistani origin saw white girls as “easy meat”.

It followed the the conviction of Mohammed Liaqat and Abid Saddique, ringleaders of a gang that groomed and abused teenage girls aged between 12 and 18.

They were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court after being found guilty at a trial in November of charges including rape.

Saddique, from Normanton, Derby, was jailed for at least 11 years and Liaqat, from the Sinfin area of the city, was locked up for a minimum of eight years.

Mr Straw said at the time: “These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they’re fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically.

“So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care... who they think are easy meat.”

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, an Islamic youth organisation, warned that the comments were “inflammatory”.

He said: “To say that this goes on under the radar and that people in the community are somehow sanctioning it is just not right.

“I have seen huge support from the Muslim community on this issue.

“For the minister to suggest that this is going on and people are turning a blind eye to it is factually incorrect and inflammatory.

“There is no national strategy to deal with the issue of grooming.

“Rather than chase political points for the newspapers the minister should be concentrating on tackling the issue.”