Shabana Mahmood has vowed "evil" grooming gang members will face justice as she said a former children's commissioner will chair the national inquiry.

The Home Secretary announced that Baroness Anne Longfield will be put in charge after months of delays. Ms Mahmood said there had been an "abject failure" by the state to protect the young and vulnerable - while some in power "turned a blind eye to the horror".

She promised that the inquiry - which will deliver its findings withing three years - will "shine a bright light on this dark moment in our history". In June Keir Starmer announced the national probe would be opened into the sickening abuse of young girls. Ms Mahmood told the Commons the inquiry will be a series of local investigations overseen by a national panel with full statut

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