The survivors panel at the heart of the grooming gangs inquiry will be ditched by the government, Metro can reveal.

The victims and survivors panel will be wound down in January, the Home Office has confirmed, just a year after it was set up to ‘ensure that victims’ voices remain at the very heart’ of the inquiry.

The decision was criticized as ‘disgusting’ by grooming gangs survivors, who said it proved the inquiry would not be victim-led.

The revelation comes on the same day the Home Secretary announced former children’s commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield as the new chair the national inquiry into the scandal. Elizabeth Harper, who was abused in Rotherham from the age of 14, said plans to get rid of the panel were ‘disgusting’.

She added: ‘How can you say it is survivor-led when yo

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