Starmer Granted Participant Status in Grooming Gangs Inquiry

Former prime minister Keir Starmer has been granted core participant status in the statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, giving him formal rights to participate but not automatically requiring him to testify. The inquiry’s hearings are scheduled to begin in December 2026, with further hearings planned for January, March and April 2027. Whether Starmer will be summoned remains unsettled: one report says he will be, while other accounts say he could be called or that no decision requiring his evidence has been established. Core participant status is granted under public inquiry rules to individuals, groups and organisations with a significant connection or interest in the investigation, or who may face criticism. Participants receive rights to take part in proceedings. The inquiry has statutory powers to compel witnesses to provide evidence and require organisations to hand over documents, but the designation itself is not a summons. Led by former children’s commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield, the three-year inquiry is examining institutional responses to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs. Its remit includes Birmingham, Bradford, Keighley, London, Oldham...