Former child sex abuse inquiry chair Professor Alexis Jay criticises 'weaponisation' of issue by Tory MPs

Professor Alexis Jay has criticised the "weaponisation" of child sexual abuse by the Conservatives and accused the previous government of an "awful" response to the scandal.

The former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said she did not want to give Tory MPs "oxygen" after they called for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.

The previous Conservative government did not implement any of the 20 recommendations she made after her final report into child sexual abuse, commissioned by then Tory home secretary Theresa May, was published in 2022 after hearing from 7,300 victims and survivors.

It found police and councils downplayed the scale of the problem and children were often blamed for their abuse.

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After the scandal returned to the headlines at the beginning of January, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for another national inquiry and for Labour to implement the recommendations.

Earlier in January, Professor Jay backed Sir Keir Starmer when he rejected calls for another inquiry, saying "the time has passed", but she was more officious on Tuesday when asked about the Tories' latest position.

"Our overriding concern is just get it done, at this point," she told the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee.

"I've had a huge amount of requests for media interviews and I felt concerned about the weaponisation of child sexual abuse that's gone on, and I won't make comment on those actors, give them oxygen."

She said she has been assured by the current government that a timetable to implement her recommendations would be provided by the end of February.

The former social worker was heavily critical of Suella Braverman, who was the Conservative home secretary when the seven-year-long inquiry's final report was published - on the same day Liz Truss resigned as prime minister.

It took seven months for the government to respond to the recommendations in May 2023.

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Professor Jay told MPs she, as well as survivor groups, experienced a "long silence" from the Home Office after publishing the recommendations.

She said the response, when it finally came, was "awful". She added: "I cannot tell you how it felt to constantly read the response from the government.

"It was inconsequential, unsubstantial, committed to nothing."

Professor Jay said in the period before the government gave its response she recommended to the prime minister's office and the Home Office that a small group should meet regularly to check on any progress that had been made.

"I got no response, and it was suggested to me I should discuss it with the home secretary (Ms Braverman)," she said.

"I raised it with her and she was very vague and nothing more was heard until Mr [James] Cleverly was appointed later that year."

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Professor Jay said she and her panel colleagues wrote to The Times newspaper about their disappointment in the government's response in May 2023, as they were getting nothing from the Home Office.

She said she was on holiday when she got an email asking for a phone call with a Home Office special adviser to talk about taking the recommendations forward.

But Professor Jay said the phone call started out as "definitely adversarial" and that the adviser asked her why she had written to The Times.

She added when Mr Cleverly took over as home secretary from Ms Braverman in 2023 they reset the relationship, and he was amenable.

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