John Swinney has been told to snap out of his ‘complacency’ and agree to an inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland.
The First Minister came under fire after claiming there was not enough evidence to justify a probe into the organised sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Keir Starmer last month U-turned and ordered an inquiry into the scandal in England and Wales after a damning audit by Whitehall troubleshooter Louise Casey.
But Mr Swinney said he would merely ‘continue to consider the need to establish a further inquiry… should further information demonstrate a need for this in due course’.
Scottish Labour MP Joani Reid told the Mail: ‘It’s complacency. And it’s a very bizarre issue to be complacent about.
‘I genuinely do not understand why he’s not taking this sufficiently seriously.’
Alba MSP Ash Regan also warned a sense of ‘Scottish exceptionalism’ risked creating ‘safeguarding blind spots’
She said: ‘We are not immune to abhorrent child abuse, whether from individuals or grooming by rape torture gangs. Looking away is not an option – failure to act is unforgivable.’
John Swinney has been criticised for claiming there is not enough evidence to justify a probe into the organised sexual abuse and exploitation of children
Meanwhile Tory MP Andrew Bowie, who wants the inquiry in England and Wales extended to Scotland, called it a ‘deeply disappointing’ decision that risked victims being ‘silenced’.
Earlier this year, four men and one women involved in a Romanian grooming gang in Dundee were convicted of raping and sexually abusing 10 women aged 16 to 30.
Baroness Casey’s audit found flawed official data meant the full extent of the crime was unknown.
A failure to record the ethnicity of perpetrators in most cases was ‘appalling’, she said.
This was despite police evidence in three forces showing ‘disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation’.
After previously dismissing opposition calls for a national inquiry, the PM agreed to one last month.
Ms Reid, the MP for East Kilbride, then wrote to Mr Swinney calling for a probe into gangs in Scotland.
She said the long-running Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry chaired by Lady Smith was no substitute as it was limited to children abused in care between 1930 and 2014.
She also said a new ‘Strategic Working Group’ on the issue was too small to determine ‘the scale of organised sexual abuse in Scotland’.
She also called for a new mandatory reporting law making it a crime for people working with children not to report sexual abuse in England to be mirrored in Scotland.
‘It is extraordinary that your government seems so reluctant to do this,’ she said.
But in his reply, Mr Swinney clung to previous SNP reasons for doing neither.
While stressing the ‘abhorrent’ nature of the abuse, he rejected an inquiry, saying there was a range of ongoing work to improve child protection.
Police Scotland also said there are ‘no current investigations’ in Scotland akin to those in the Casey audit.
And despite ‘a number of advantages’ to mandatory reporting, there were ‘also risks and unintended consequences’, he said, so it was still being considered.
Ms Reid said she had been contacted by whistleblowers, police officers and abuse survivors and was in no doubt there was a grooming gang problem in Scotland – and official denial.
‘The institutional problems that exist in England also exist here. But Mr Swinney seems to have doubled down on the idea that there is nothing much to see when it comes to organised child abuse in Scotland.
‘But if you never look, you will never spot the problems, no matter how serious they are.
‘His continued failure to back mandatory reporting of child abuse is a serious mistake.
‘The idea that Scotland might be the one part of Britain where adults could be aware of abuse taking place but be under no obligation to report it would be an appalling outcome.
‘John Swinney should recognise that this is not the moment to hide from public scrutiny over organised child abuse. He needs to have a change of heart – and quickly.’
Mr Bowie, the shadow Scottish Secretary, said: ‘John Swinney appears completely oblivious to the urgent need to extend this inquiry to Scotland, where there have been well-documented cases of grooming gangs carrying out horrific crimes.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Ministers will consider the need to establish a further inquiry into child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland, should further information demonstrate a need for this, and children and young people’s needs and rights must remain at the heart of this process.
‘We are working at pace with partners, including Police Scotland and the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, to assess the Casey Audit’s findings and recommendations to understand how they might apply in Scotland.
‘The independent Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is one of the widest ranging enquiries undertaken in Scotland – it includes an extensive review of child protection policy and practice, and will report with recommendations for further development in due course.’
